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SIX SELECTIONS 



IRVING'S SKETCH-BOOK. 



SIX SELECTIONS FROM 

lEVING'S 

SKETCH-BOO 

CONSISTING OP 

SKETCHES FROM THE LIST MADE BY THE SUPERVISORS FOR THE 
BOSTON HIGH SCHOOLS. 



A NOTICE OF IRVING'S LIFE AND TIMES, 
NOTES, QUESTIONS, 

ETC. 

^ot Jiome and <^chool fee. 



HOMER B. SPRAGUE, Ph.D., 

HEAD MASTER OF THE GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL, BOSTON, MASS., AND FORMERLY 

PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AND ENGLISH LITERATURE IN 

THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 

ASSISTED BY 

M. E. SCATES, 

FOE MANY YEAKS INSTEUCTOE IN ENGLISH IN THE GIKM' HIGH SCHOOL, 
BOSTON. 




BOSTON: 

G-INN AND HEATH, PUBLISHERS, 
1878. 



t^ 






Copyright, 1878. 
By homer B. SPRAGUE. 



ELECTEOTTPED AND FEINTED AT THE UiMVEKSITT PEESS, 
CAMBEIDGE. 



PREFACE 



The compilers of this book, desiring to give practical help 
to teachers and pupils in beginning the study of English 
Literature, feel warranted by long experience in the school- 
room in offering certain suggestions. 

The writer studied should become a friend, a companion ; 
" for indeed there is something of companionship between 
the author and the reader." The main facts of his life 
should be given ; but the students should collect additional 
ones, and by means of them and of familiar talks by their 
teacher, there should be presented simply, but vividly, the 
man and the author. 

The general. intent and the particular meaning of the writer 
in the extracts studied should be made very clear : pupils 
should be encouraged to make criticisms, and to ask questions; 
they should be made to reproduce passages in fresh words, 
and to write out the story or tell it orally as briefly as pos- 
sible. Words ought to be defined, sentences analyzed, obscure 
expressions simplified, and numerous questions asked to lead 
pupils to use the knowledge they already possess, and to 
search for other items that will make interesting the pieces 
selected for study. 

Reading aloud will, of course, form a part of many exer- 
cises, and it is a most valuable test of a scholar's comprehen- 



iv PREFACE. 

sion of any selection. The recitation of the finest passages 
will afford a pleasant variety in the work. 

Too much is often expected of young students, and often 
too little may seem to be accomplished; but the habits 
formed will be of practical value in most other studies in 
school or college. To get the general meaning, to under- 
stand in detail, and to be able to present clearly to another 
mind what we have mastered, are always important as a 
discipline, and constitute a sure test of success. 

To the liberal and enterprising publishing house (G. P. 
Putnam's Sons) whose name has been most honorably con- 
nected with the publication of Irving's works during the 
past thirty years, warm thanks are due for the courtesy 
with which they have accorded the privilege of issuing in 
the present form these six delightful Sketches. 

Boston, September 1, 1878. 



CHEONOLOGY. 



1783. April 3, Washington Irving was bom in the city of New York. 
1800. Began to study law. 

1802. Contributions to The Morning Chronicle, signed Jonathan Old- 
style. 

1804. Went to Eurojje. 

1806. Returned to New York ; was admitted to the bar. 

1807. Salmagundi, a humorous magazine ; joint production of Wash- 
ington Irving, James K. Paulding, and William Irving. 

1809. Matilda Hoffman, his betrothed, died. Her early death gave a 
tinge of seriousness to his whole life. 

1809. History of New York, by Diedrich Knickcrhockcr. Sir Walter 
Scott was greatly delighted with this work. 

1810. Admitted as a partner with two of his brothers in the commer- 
cial business which they carried on in New York and Liverpool. 

1813-14. Edited Analectic Magazine, published in Philadelphia. 
1815. Second visit to Europe. 

1817. Thomas Campbell, the poet, gave Irving a letter of introduc- 
tion to Scott at Abbotsford, who said of Irving, " He is one of the best 
and pleasantest acquaintances I have made this man}^ a day. " 

1818. Failure in business. Bankruptcy. 

1819-20. The Sketch-Book was published in numbers in New York ; 
collected and published in two volumes in London by John Murray, 
owing to the favorable representations of Walter'Scott. 

1822. Bracchridge Hall. The characters in the Christmas Sketches 
reappear in this book. Thomas Moore, the poet, suggested the idea to 
Irving. 

1824. Tales of a Traveller; sold for 1500 guineas to Murray, without 
his having seen the manuscript. 

1828. TM Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. While writing 
this book in Madrid, he met Mr. Longfellow, who had just been ap- 
pointed professor of modern languages in Bowdoin College, and was 
studying in Europe to prepare himself for the work. 



viii CHRONOLOGY. 

1829. Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada. 

1830. The Royal Society of Literature bestowed upon him one of the 
two fifty-guinea gold medals, awarded annually. 

1831. The University of Oxford conferred on him the degree of LL. D. 

1831. Voyages of the Companions of Columbus. 

1832. Eeturned to New York after seventeen years' absence. Public 
dinner in New York to "our illustrious guest, thrice welcome to his 
native land." 

1832. TJie Alhambra. Irving lived in the old Moorish palace between 
two and three months "in a kind of Oriental dream," he says. Many 
of his letters written at the time are dated, "Alhambra, Granada." 

1834. Travelled in the "West, in company with commissioners ap- 
pointed by the United States Government to treat with the Indians. 

1835. A Tour on the Prairies. Abhotsford and Neiostead Abbey 
{Crayon Miscellany). 

1835. Legends of the Conquest of Spain {Crayon Miscellany), . Included 
in Spanish Papers, edited by Pierre M. Irving, after the author's death. 

1835. Purchased a tract of land on the Hudson, on which was a small 
Dutch cottage, the Van Tassel house of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, 
afterwards known as "Wolfert's Roost, and rechristened Sunnyside. The 
railroad station near it is now called IrVington, some twenty-five miles 
from New York. 

1836. Astoria : an account of John Jacob Astor's settlement on the 
Columbia River, scenes beyond the Rocky Mountains, the-fur trade, etc. 

1837. The Adventures of Captain Bonneville. 

■ 1842 - 46. Minister to Spain. Notified of his appointment by Daniel 
"Webster. 

1849. Oliver Goldsmith: A Biography. 

1850. Mahomet and his Successors. 
1855. Wolfert's Boost. 

1855 - 59. The Life of George JVashingfton (five volimies). 
1859. November 28, Irving died at Sunnyside. 



IRVING ONE OF THE CHIEF FOUNDERS OF 
AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



On the 19th of April, 1783, just eight years after the battle of Lex- 
ington, the commanding general of the American forces sent the joyful 
news of peace to his long-suffering army. On the third day of the same 
month, in the city of New York, the youngest of the eleven children of 
William and Sarah Irving was born. To the child was given the Chris- 
tian name of Washington. 

Before the time of Irving's first literary efforts the scholarly men of 
America, that is of the American colonies, were too busy with hard labor 
in subduing nature, resisting the rigorous acts of the English Parliament, 
and laying the foundations and rearing the walls of the new temple of 
liberty, to devote themselves in any special degree to literary culture. 
Born with the new Republic, and through the whole of his life an ardent 
lover of his country, it seems no stretch of the imagination to conceive 
that Irving was inspired from the beginning with the high resolve to add 
something to its glory, as well as to make for himself a name of renown. 

The following brief outline will show that Irving, whom Thackeray 
styles "the first ambassador sent by the New World of Letters to the 
Old," preceded the authors whose works make it possible to use with 
certainty and pride the words, "American Literature" : William CuUen 
Bryant's Thanatopsis was published in the North American Review in 
1816 ; but in 1831 he was unknown in England, and solicited Irving to 
use his influence to have a volume of his poems published in London. 
Eichard Henry Dana was four years younger than Irving. He was the 
editor of the North American Review; his most celebrated poem. The 
Buccaneer, was published in 1827. James Fenimore Cooper was six 
years younger than Irving, and his first novels appeared in 1821. Long- 
fellow and Hawthorne were in college when Irving was famous. Whit- 
tier's best poems have been written since Irving's death. Ralph Waldo 
Emerson was born the year after Irving began to write for Tlie Morning 
Chronicle ; Nathaniel Hawthorne, a year later ; Oliver Wendell Holmes, 
the year of the publication of Irving's History of New York ; and James 
Russell Lowell, the year The Sketeh-Book was published. 



SOME QUESTIONS AND TOPICS SUITABLE FOR A 
FINAL EXAMINATION PAPER. 



When and where was Irving born ? Fix the date by an important 
historical event. 

Give some account of his life in Europe. 

What marked honors did he receive in England ? 

When was his fame as an author well-established, both at home and 
abroad ? 

What distinguished British authors were his friends ? 

Name his chief works. 

Who suggested the idea of Bracebridge Hall ? 

What books of his are truly American in subject? 

Did Irving ever do any work besides book-making ? 

What distinguished American statesmen in his time ? 

Give the chief events in American history during the period of Irving's 
life ; in English and French history. 

Under what fictitious names did he write ? 

What was the name of his home ? where was it ? 

Is there any appropriateness in the name, Geoffrey Crayon, as author 
of The Sketch-Book? Explain. 

What idea of Irving as a man would be derived from reading his works ? 

What does the phrase " contemporary writers " mean ? 

Into what classes may we divide the sketches ? Descriptive ? humorous ? 
pathetic ? narrative ? didactic ? other ? 

Where is the scene of each sketch laid ? 

iName the chief characters in the sketches, connecting with each some 
appropriate qualifying word or phrase. 

Which is your favorite sketch ? Why ? 

Write briefly an outline of the story of The Widow and Her Son. 

Sketch the character and personal appearance of Ichabod Crane. 

Quote from the sketches, and state what there is that is striking in the 
passages quoted. 

Name very humorous and very pathetic passages in the sketches. 

Select a passage of fine description. 

" He loved his daughter better even than his pipe." Quoted from 
what ? Is it humorous or matter of fact ? Why ? 

Define the following words : cloisters, vionastic, key-stones, effigies, 
obliterated, edifice, jjarsimony. 

What is a sentence ? 

Of what parts does every sentence consist ? 

Analyze the last sentence in TJie JVidotv and Her Son. 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHEES. 



The following suggestions by the Board of School Supervisors ia 
Boston will be found exceedingly helpful to many teachers : — 

During the short time given to English Literature in the High Schools, 
few authors can be studied, and only selections from their works can 
be critically read. The main purpose, then, of this brief course of 
study should be to form and cultivate a taste for good literature, to 
encourage careful and systematic reading, and to illustrate the princi- 
ples which should guide in selecting authors and works to be read after 
leaving school. It should be the purpose of the teacher, while keeping 
the exercises in literature from becoming either mere tasks or pastimes, 
to make the lessons so interesting that they will be eagerly and vigor- 
ously studied, and will inspire a desire for a larger acquaintance with the 
best authors. This purpose, it is believed, can be accomplished, partly 
by leading the pupils to perceive the real intent of the author, his 
thoughts and feelings, the strength of his argument, the beauty and 
nobleness of his sentiment, and his clear, distinct, forcible, and happy 
expression ; partly by giving a vivid account of his life and times and 
their influence on each other, and by exciting an interest in the lives of 
his most eminent literary contemporaries. Thus, by association and com- 
parison, the study of a single author may be an introduction and an 
incentive to the study of the literature of his period. 

While neither the thought nor expression should be slighted at any 
time during the study of the selections, more attention should, perhaps, 
be given to the thought the first year, and to the expression the second 
year. During the third year, the selections should be used not merely 
for exercises in the meaning, derivation, and use of words, or for enlarg- 
ing the understanding or improving the taste ; they should also be 
studied as specimens of literature, and should illustrate the iiitellect, the 
taste, and the genius of their authors. "' *,=, 

At the outset, the whole of a poem, sketch, essay, or novel should be 
read by the pupils, either at home or at school. Having formed a gen- 
eral conception of the production, they should study carefully and read 
intelligently with their teacher those parts of it that are most inter- 
esting and instructive, and that represent the genius and style of the 
author. 



xii SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. 

To the foregoing may be added the followiiig, by the same judi- 
cious authorities : — 

After the teacher has called attention to a few points in the life, times, 
and character of an author, the class should take some narrative or clc- 
scriptive piece and read it aloud, special attention being given to reading 
it in such a manner as to express clearly the thought, with such modi- 
iications of the voice as the sentiment requires. This should be accom- 
panied by such a running commentary by the teacher as will enable the 
pupils to understand the story, if it is a narrative, or to form a mental 
picture of the scene described. The commentary should not, however, 
be such as to interfere with the interest of the story or description ; but 
simply what is necessary to a general understanding of the piece. It 
will often require an explanation of many words that are but vaguely 
understood by the pupils, and attention to such constructions as require 
elucidation. This having been done, it will be an excellent practice for 
the pupils to tell, orally, what they have read in their own language. 
This may be made a class exercise by having one pupil begin and others 
follow, each taking it up where his predecessor left off. 

Let each pupil then write an abstract of it. The reading of the piece 
and the oral abstract which has been given will have secured such a 
knowledge of it that the pupils will be likely to express themselves with 
a clearness which can come only from a full and exact understanding of 
the author. 

Having carefully read the narrative or description, some parts of it 
may be taken and subjected to such an analysis as will show the rela- 
tions of the clauses, phrases, and words to each other. It may be well, 
too, if the pupils are sufficiently advanced, to show somethmg of the 
relations of logic — the grammar of thought — to grammar, which has to 
do with words, phrases, and clauses. 

This will involve a knowledge of the parts of speech, the inflections, 
and the principles of syntax, — and should therefore be preceded by 
some review of what the pupils may be supposed to have learned pre- 
viously. 

After this the attention may be directed Tnore especially to subordinate 
matters, — to allusions, suggestions, manners, customs, historical refer- 
ences, and the like. If the selection is poetry, call attention to the 
metrical structure, which will involve the necessity, perhaps, of some 
study of prosody. 

The most common rhetorical figures may be learned, — as simile, 
metaphor, synecdoche, and metonymy, and the selection examined with 
reference to their use. 

Then, the words may be examined with reference to their orign. 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. xiii 

derivation, and formation. This, of course, will necessitate the use of 
an etymological dictionary, and a knowledge of the common prefixes and 
suffixes. 

The pupils will then be able to understand what is meant by piority of 
style, and to apply their knowledge in examining this and other selec- 
tions. The habit, too, which the pupils have formed of seeing the exact 
meaning of words, and the force of particular constructions, will aid 
them in writing clearly. 

Then may follow an exercise involving all that has been done ; viz., 
an exercise in criticism, or an estimate of the merits and faults of the 
selection. 

If it is a narrative or a description, does it give us a distinct and con- 
sistent conception of the story told, or the object described, as a whole ? 
Or is there something wanting, or but vaguely hinted at, which is neces- 
sary to a perfect understanding of the author ? A careful examination in 
these regards will determine its quality with regard to cumphtencss. 

Is there more than is necessary to give such a conception, — some- 
thing not so intimately connected with the subject as to render the con- 
ception more vivid and well defined, but rather to confuse ? On the 
answer to this will depend its unify. 

Then may follow an examination of the style. Are the words such as 
are sanctioned by " good use " ? 

Are the words well chosen to express the exact ideas of the author ? 

Is the constructiom of the sentences in accordance with the idiom and 
syntax of the language ? This, of course, will involve some knowledge 
of barbarism, impropriety, and solecism. 

How much of the preceding should be done in the several classes will 
depend on the pupils' power of appreciation, and the time devoted to the 
study. 

Probably the Junior class will be glad to take another selection after 
having obtained such a knowledge of it as to be able to wTite a good 
abstract, to analyze some of the most difficult sentences, and give the 
grammatical inflexions and relation of some of the principal words, — 
with some, but not a wearisome, attention to allusions, historical sugges- 
tions, etc. 

The Middle class will be able, in addition to this, to subject the selec- 
tion to such an examination as will involve some knowledge of rhetoric. 

The Senior class may give some attention to each of the parts enumer- 
ated, with special attention to criticism. 

But such study will not give pupils facility and accuracy in composi- 
tion without much iwactice in writing. 

"We learn to skate by skating, and to write by writing. There is no 
other way. — Boston School Document No. 29, 1877. 



CONTENTS. 
— • — 

Page 

Chronology op Incidents and Publications . . . vii 

Irving one of the Chief Founders of American Lit- 
erature ix 

Questions for a Final Examination Paper . . x 

Suggestions to Teachers . . xi 

The Voyage 1 

Questions and Suggestions 9 

Westminster Abbey 11 

Questions and Suggestions 27 

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 28 

Questions and Suggestions 69 

The Widow and her Son 71 

Questions and Suggestions 80 

Eip Van Winkle 81 

Questions and Suggestions 103 

Christmas Eve 104 

Questions and Suggestions . . . . . .118 



THE SKETCH-BOOK. 



THE VOYAGE. 

" Ships, ships, I will descrie you 

Amidst the main, 

I M'ill come and try you, 

What you are protecting, 

And projectiug, 

What 's your eud and aim. 

One goes abroad for merchandise and trading. 

Another stays to keep his country from invading, 

A third is coming home with rich and wealthy lading. 

Halloo ! my fancie, whither wilt thou go ? " 

Old Poem. 

To an American visiting Europe, the long voyage he has 
to make is an excellent preparative. The temporary absence 
of worldly scenes and employments produces a state of mind 
peculiarly fitted to receive new and vivid impressions. The 
vast space of waters that separates the hemispheres is like a 5 
blank page in existence. There is no gradual transition by 
which, as in Europe, the features and population of one 
country blend almost imperceptibly with those of another. 
From the moment you lose sight of the land you have left, 
all is vacancy until you step on the opposite shore, and are lo 
launched at once into the bustle and novelties of another 
world. 

In travelling by land there is a continuity of scene, and a 
connected succession of persons and incidents that carry on 

Line 1. Voyage (Pr. voyager, to travel ; voyage, a journey ; Lat. via, a 
way), formerly a passage, joTirney, or travel hy sea or by laud ; hence Irving 
says a wide sea voyage. It is now limited to travel by sea. 

2. Preparative, that wliich prepares ; a prej)aration. 

5. Hemispheres. What meridian is the boundai-y line between the east- 
ern and western hemisplieres ? See the atlases. 



2 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

the story of life, and lessen the effect of absence and separa- « 
tion. We drag, it is true, "a lengthening chain" at each 
remove of our pilgrimage ; but the chain is unbroken : we 
can trace it back link by link ; and we feel that the last still 
grapples us to home. But a wide sea voyage severs us at 
once. It makes us conscious of being cast loose from the 20 
secure anchorage of settled life, and sent adrift upon a doubt- 
ful world. It interposes a gulf, not merely imaginary, but 
real, between us and our homes, — a gulf subject to tempest 
and fear and uncertainty, rendering distance palpable and re- 
turn precarious. 25 

Such, at least, was the case with myself. As I saw the 
last blue line of my native land fade away like a cloud in 
the horizon, it seemed as if I had closed one volume of the 
world and its contents, and had time for meditation before 
I opened another. That land, too, now vanishing from my 30 
view, which contained all most dear to me in life, — what 
vicissitudes might occur in it, what changes might take 
place in me, before I should visit it again ! Who can tell, 
when he sets forth to wander, whither he may be driven by 
the uncertain currents of existence, or when he may return, ss 
or whether it may ever be his lot to revisit the scenes of his 
childhood? 

I said that at sea all is vacancy ; I should correct the ex- 
pression. To one given to day-dreaming, and fond of losing 



16. A lengthening chain, "And drags at each remove a lengtlienhig 
chain." Goldsmith's Traveller, line 10. This expression is explained in the 
following passage from Goldsmith's Citizen of tlie World : " The farther I 
travel, I feel the pain of separation with stronger force ; those ties that bind 
me to my native comitry and you, are still unbroken. By every move I only 
drag a greater length of chain." 

28. Horizon (Gr. opos, hoi-os, a boundary), the circular line which bounds 
the view of the sky and earth, or of the sky and water, caused by the appar- 
ent meeting of the two. 

32. Vicissitudes (Lat. vicis, a turn, a change ; vicissitudo, a succeeding in 
turns), revolutions, mutations. 

34. Driven by the uncertain currents. Do currents drive one 1 Is 
' drive ' the best word ? 



THE VOYAGE, 3 

himself in reveries, a sea voyage is full of subjects for medi- « 
tation ; but then they are the wonders of the deep and of 
the air, and ratlier tend to abstract the mind from worldly 
themes. I delighted to loll over the quarter-railing, or climb 
to the main-top, of a calm day, and muse for hours together 
on the tranquil bosom of a summer's sea ; to gaze upon the « 
piles of golden clouds just peering above the horizon, fancy 
them some fairy realms, and people them with a creation of 
my own ; to watch the gentle undulating billows, rolling their 
silver volumes as if to die away on those happy shores. 

There was a delicious sensation of mingled security and awe w 
with which I looked down, from my giddy height, on the 
monsters of the deep at their uncouth gambols, — r shoals of 
porpoises tumbling about the bow of the ship ; the grampus 
slowly heaving his huge form above the surface ; or the rav- 
enous shark, darting, like a spectre, through the blue waters. ^ 
My imagination would conjure up all that I had heard or 
read of the watery world beneath me, — of the finny herds 
that roam its fathomless valleys, of the shapeless monsters 
that lurk among the very foundations of the earth, and of 
those wild phantasms that swell the talcs of fishermen and 6o 
sailors. 

40. Beveries. " Wlien ideas float iu our minds without any reflection or 
regard of the understanding, it is that which the French call resveric (reverie) ; 
our language has scarce a name for it." Locke, (Fr. river, to dream.) 

43. Quarter-railing. The railing reachjng from the taff"rail to the gang- 
way, and serving as a fence to the quarter-deck (the quarter-deck being that 
portion of the uppermost deck between the mainmast and mizzenmast, or be- 
tween the mainmast and the stern). 

44. Main-top. The top of the mainmast of a ship. 

52. Gambols. "The radical image is that of a sudden and rapid move- 
ment to and fro, jvimping, springing," for sport. Wedgwood. Shoals. The 
radical meaning seems to be a clump or mass. Wedgwood. (Dutch school, 
a shoal of fishes. ) 

53. Porpoises (Lat. porcus, hog ; piscis, fish), hog-fishes. Grampus (Lat. 
grandis, large, and 2}iscis, fish ; or perhaps, crassus, fat, big, and piscis, 
fish). The grampus is sometimes 25 feet in length. 

56. Conjure (kiin'jur), to summon by enchantment. Conjure' means to 
swear togetlier, to conspire by oath. 
60. Phantasms (Gr. phantasma, appearance), apparitions. 



4 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

%. 

Sometimes a distant sail, gliding along the edge of the ocean, 
would be another theme of idle speculation. How interesting 
this fragment of a world, hastening to rejoin the great mass 
of existence ! What a glorious monument of human invention, es 
which has in a manner triumphed over wind and wave ; has 
brought the ends of the world into communion; has estab- 
lished an interchange of blessings, pouring into the sterile re- 
gions of the north all the luxuries of the south ; has diffused 
the light of knowledge and the charities of cultivated life ; and 70 
has thus bound together those scattered portions of the human 
race, between which nature seemed to have tlirown an insur- 
mountable barrier. 

We one day descried some shapeless object drifting at a dis- 
tance. At sea, everything that breaks the monotony of the 75 
surrounding expanse attracts attention. It proved to be the 
mast of a ship that must have been completely wrecked ; for 
there were the remains of handkerchiefs, by which some of 
the crew had fastened themselves to this spar, to prevent 
their being washed off by the waves. There was no trace by so 
which the name of the ship could be ascertained. The wreck 
had evidently drifted about for many months ; clusters of shell- 
fish had fastened about it, and long sea-weeds flaunted at its 
sides. But where, thought I, is the crew ? Their struggle has 
long been over, — they have gone down amidst the roar of 85 
the tempest, — their bones lie whitening among the caverns 
of the deep. Silence, oblivion, like the waves, have closed 
over them, and no one can tell the story of their end. What 

74. Descried ("To make an outcry on discovering something for which 
one is on the watch ; then simply to discover." Wedgwood), discerned at a 
distance. Notice tlie old spelling of this word and of fancy, in the stanza at 
the beginning of the sketch. 

75. Monotony (Gr. /xivoy, single ; rdvo^, note, tone), sameness, want of 
variety. 

76. Expanse (Lat. ex, out ; pansum, opened, spread), a surface widely 
outspread. 

79. Spar. In naiitical phrase, a long beam, a mast, yard, boom. 
S3. Flaunted. To flaunt is properly to wave to and fro in the wind, to 
move about in a showy manner so as to be seen like a banner in the wind. 



THE VOYAGE. 5 

sighs have been wafted after that ship ! what prayers offered 
up at the deserted fireside of home ! How often has the mis- ao 
tress, the wife, the mother, pored over the daily news, to 
catch some casual intelligence of this rover of the deep ! How 
has expectation darkened into anxiety, — anxiety into dread, 
— and dread into despair ! Alas ! not one memento may ever 
return for love to cherish. All that may ever be known is 95 
that she sailed from her port, "and was never heard of more ! " 

The sight of this wreck, as usual, gave rise to many dismal 
anecdotes. This was particularly the case in the evening, when 
the weather, which had hitherto been fair, began to look wild 
and threatening, and gave indications of one of those sudden 100 
storms which will sometimes break in upon the serenity of a 
summer voyage. As we sat round the dull light of a lamp 
in the cabin, that made the gloom more ghastly, every one 
had his tale of shipwreck and disaster. I was particularly 
struck with a short one related by the captain. io« 

"As I was once sailing," said he, "in a fine stout ship across 
the banks of JSTewfoundland, one of those heavy fogs which 
prevail in those parts rendered it impossible for us to see far 
ahead even in the daytime ; but at night the weather was so 
thick that we could not distinguish any object at twice the uo 
length of the ship. I kept lights at the mast-head, and a 
constant watch forward to look out for fishing-smacks, which 
are accustomed to lie at anchor on the banks. The wind was 
blowing a smacking breeze, and we were going at a great 
rate through the water. Suddenly the watch gave the alarm lis 
of ' A sail ahead ! ' — it was scarcely uttered before we were 

91. Pored. To pore is to look close and long, to read or examine with 
steady or continued attention. 

107. Banks of Newfoundland. These banks form one of the most exten- 
sive submarine elevations on the globe. They are between 600 and 700 miles 
in length, with a depth of water varying from 10 to 160 fathoms. Tlie famous 
Grand Bank swarms with cod and almost every other variety of fish. 

112. Fishing-smacks, small vessels, usually sloop-rigged, used in the 
fisheries. 

114. Smacking, making a sharp, lively sound. 



6 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

upon her. She was a small schooner, at anchor, with her 
broadside towards us. The crew were all asleep, and had neg- 
lected to hoist a light. We struck her just amidships. The 
force, the size, and weight of our vessel bore her down below 120 
the waves ; we passed over her and were hurried on our course. 
As the crashing wreck was sinking beneath us, I had a glimpse 
of two or three half-naked wretches rushing from her cabin ; 
they just started from their beds to be swallowed shrieking by 
the waves. I heard their drowning cry mingling with the 125 
wind. The blast that bore it to our ears swept us out of aU 
farther hearing. I shall never forget that cry ! It was some 
time before we could put the ship about, she was under 
such headway. We returned, as nearly as we could guess, to 
the place where the smack had anchored. We cruised about uo 
for several hours in the dense fog. We fired signal-guns, and 
listened if we might hear the halloo of any survivors ; but all 
was silent, — we never saw or heard anything of them more." 

I confess these stories, for a time, put an end to all my fine 
fancies. The storm increased with the night. The sea was 135 
lashed into tremendous confusion. There was a fearful, sullen 
sound of rushing waves and broken surges. Deep called unto 
deep. At times the black volume of clouds overhead seemed 
rent asunder by flashes of lightning, which quivered along 
the foaming billows, and made the succeeding darkness doubly 140 
terrible. The thunders bellowed over the wild waste of waters, 
and were echoed and prolonged by the mountain waves. As 
I saw the ship staggering and plunging among these roaring 
caverns, it seemed miraculous that she regained her bal- 
ance, or preserved her buoyancy. Her yards would dip into i« 
the water : her bow was almost buried beneath the waves. 
Sometimes an impendiag surge appeared ready to overwhelm 

119. Amidships. (Nautical.) In the middle of a ship ; half-way between 
the stem and the stern. 

128. Put the ship about. Change her course by tacking. 

147. Impending (from Lat. in, on, upon, over, and pendere, to hang), 
hanging over, threatening. 



THE VOYAGE. 7 

her, and nothing but a dexterous movement of the helm 
preserved her from the shock. 

When I retired to my cabin, the awful scene still followed iso 
me. The whistling of the wind through the rigging sounded 
like funereal wailings. The creaking of the masts, the straining 
and groaning of bulkheads, as the ship labored in the welter- 
ing sea, were frightful. As I heard the waves rushing along 
the sides of the ship, and roaring in my very ear, it seemed ih 
as if Death were raging round this floating prison, seeking 
for his prey; the mere starting of a nail, the yawning of a 
seam, might give him entrance. 

A fine day, however, with a tranquil sea and favoring 
breeze, soon put all these dismal reflections to flight. It is leo 
impossible to resist the gladdening influence of fine weather 
and fair wind at sea. When the ship is decked out in all 
her canvass, every sail swelled and careering gayly over the 
curling waves, how lofty, how gallant, she appears, — how she 
seems to lord it over the deep ! les 

I might fill a volume with the reveries of a sea voyage, for 
with me it is almost a continual reverie, — but it is time to 
get to shore. 

It was a fine sunny morning when the thrilling cry of 
" Land ! " was given from the mast-head, N'one but those iro 
who have experienced it can form an idea of the delicious 
throng of sensations which rush into an American's bosom 
when he first comes in sight of Europe. There is a volume 
of associations with the very name. It is the land of promise, 
teeming with everything of which his childhood has heard or vn 
on which his studious years have pondered. 

From that time until the moment of arrival, it was aU 

153. Balkheads, board partitions making water-tight compartments in 
a ship. 

156. Death were raging, etc. Personification (from personify, Lat. per- 
sona, a person, and facere, to make). It consists in representing inanimate 
objects or abstract notions as endued with life and action like a person, or 
possessing the qualities of living beings. 

165. Lord it over. To act as a lord, to rule despotically. 



8 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

feverish excitement. The ships of war, that prowled like 
guardian giants along the coast; the headlands of Ireland, 
stretching out into the channel; the Welsh mountains, tow- iso 
ering into the clouds, — all were objects of intense interest. 
As we sailed up the Mersey, I reconnoitred the shores with 
a telescope. My eye dwelt with delight on neat cottages, 
with their trim shrubberies and green grass-plots. I saw the 
mouldering ruin of an abbey overrun with ivy, and the taper iss 
spire of a village church rising from the brow of a neighbor- 
ing hill, — all were characteristic of England. 

The tide and wind were so favorable that the ship was 
enabled to come at once to the pier. It was thronged with 
people; some idle lookers-on, others eager expectants of i90 
friends or relatives. I could distinguish the merchant to 
whom the ship was consigned. I knew him by his calcu- 
lating brow and restless air. His hands were thrust into his 
pockets ; he was whistling thoughtfully, and walking to and 
fro, a small space having been accorded him by the crowd in 195 
deference to his temporary importance. There were repeated 
cheerings and salutations interchanged between the shore and 
the ship, as friends happened to recognize each other. I par- 
ticularly noticed one young woman of humble dress, but inter- 
esting demeanor. She was leaning forward from among the 200 
crowd ; her eye hurried over the ship as it neared the shore, 
to catch some wished-for countenance. She seemed disap- 
pointed and agitated, when I heard a faint voice call her name. 
It was from a poor sailor who had been ill all the voyage, 
and had excited the sympathy of every one on board. When 205 
the weather was fine, his messmates had spread a mattress 
for him. on deck in the shade, but of late his illness had 



182. Mersey (mir'zee), a river in England. It expands into a large 
estuary or arm of the Irish Sea, forming Liverpool harbor. Beconnoitred 
(Lat. recognoscSre, to take notice of again ; Fr. recomiaitre, to recognize), 
examined carefully. 

185. Abbey (Fr. dbbaye; from Syi'iac abba, father), a monastery or similar 
building for persons of either sex, governed by an abbot or abbess. 



THE VOYAGE. 9 

so increased that he had taken to his hammock, and only- 
breathed a wish that he might see his wife before he died. 
He had been helped on deck as we came up the river, and 210 
was now leaning against the shrouds, with a countenance so 
wasted, so pale, so ghastly, that it was no wonder even the 
eye of affection did not recognize him. But at the sound 
of his voice her eye darted on his features ; it read, at once, a 
whole volume of sorrow ; she clasped her hands, uttered a faint 215 
shriek, and stood wringing them in silent agony. 

All now was hurry and bustle, — the meetings of acquaint- 
ances, the greetings of friends, the consultations of men of 
business, I alone was solitary and idle. I had no friend to 
meet, no cheering to receive. I stepped upon the land of 220 
my forefathers, but felt that I was a stranger in the land. 



SUGGESTIONS OF TOPICS OF INQUIRY. 

What is the gulf that a voyage interposes between us and our homes? 
What words describe it? 

" Whither he may be driven " (line 34). Why is lohither better than ivhere ? 
Which of them means to what place ? Which of them means at or in what 
place ? 

"I said that at sea all is vacancy" (line 38). Quote any previous passage 
containing this idea. 

What were some of the amusements of the voyage ? Day-dreaming ? Look- 
ing down " on the monsters of the deep at their uncouth gambols " ? Watch- 
ing a distant sail ? Contemplating the object seen at a distance, the mast of 
a wrecked sliip ? Story-telling ? Any other ? 

"Expectation, anxiety, dread, despair" (lines 93, 94). Which expresses 
the strongest feeling ? How are the words arranged ? Define a climax. 

What ' ' has brought the ends of the earth into communion " ? How ? 

Narrate in your own words the captain's story. Point out the most 
pathetic expressions in it. 

What does Irving say of the ship duriqg the storm ? 

Explain " how she seems to lord it over the deep ! " Contrast that with 
the description of her course during the storm. 

What were objects of interest as the ship approached the shore ? 

At what point did they land ? 

Describe the crowd on the pier. 

Who was the most important person there ? 

What pathetic incident is told ? 



10 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

" I stepped upon the land of my forefathers." Who ? Why land of my 

forefathers ? 

Express the idea of the last sentence in other words. 

Select nautical words or phrases in this sketch. 

Was the voyage made in a steamer or in a sailing vessel ? Give reasons for 
the answer. 

What is the general character of this sketch ? Description ? 

Commit to memory the paragraph beginning, "We one day descried some 
shapeless object," etc. 

Select and commit to memory any other passage in the piece. Give your 
reason for your selection. 

What is the simple subject in the first sentence in this sketch ? The entire 
subject ? 

GUIDE FOR ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 

How many clauses ? 

Kinds ? (Dependent and independent, stating the number of each.) 

State the kind of each dependent clause, and tell what each modifies. 
(Dependent clauses are equivalent to some part of speech ; hence we have 
Noun clauses, Adjective clauses, and Adverbial clauses. ) 

Simple subject ? 

Modifiers of the subject ? 

Entire subject ? 

Simple predicate ? 

Modifiers of the predicate ? 

Entire predicate? 

Analyze clauses not already analyzed. 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 

" When I behold, with deep astonishment, 
To famous Westminster how tliere resorte. 
Living in brasse or stoney monument. 
The princes and the worthies of all sorte ; 
Doe not I see reformde nobilitie, 
Without contempt, or pride, or ostentation, 
And looke vipon offenselesse majesty. 
Naked of pomp or earthly domination ? 
And how a play-game of a painted stone 
Contents the quiet now and silent sprites, 
Wliome all the world which late tliey stood upon 
Could not content nor quench their appetites. 
Life is a frost of cold felicitie, 
And death the thaw of all our vanitie." 

Christolero's Epigrams, by T. B, 1598. 

On one of those sober and rather melancholy days, in the 
latter part of autumn, when the shadows of morning and even- 
ing almost mingle together, and throw a gloom over the decline 
of the year, I passed several hours in rambling about West- 
minster Abbey. There was something congenial to the season 
in the mournful magnificence of the old pile ; and as I passed 
its threshold, it seemed like stepping back into the regions 
of antiquity, and losing myself among the shades of former 
ages. 

5. Minster ( A.-S. minstre or mynster ; Low Lat. monasterium). In Ger- 
many and in England this title is given to several large cathedrals or cathedral 
churches ; as, York Minster, the Minster'of Strasburg, etc. It is also found 
in the names of places which owe their origin to a monastery ; as, Westmin- 
ster, the minster or monastery of the West. Westminster is a city and 
borough, and forms the west portion of London. Westminster Abbey is in 
the form of a Latin cross ; it is 511 feet long by 203 wide across the transepts. 
For the word abbey see p. 8, line 188. 



12 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

I entered from the inner court of Westminster School, lo 
through a long, low, vaulted passage, that had an almost sub- 
terranean look, being dimly lighted in one part by circular 
perforations in the massive walls. Through this dark avenue 
I had a distant view of the cloisters, with the figure of an 
old verger, in his black gown, moving along their shadowy is 
vaults, and seeming like a spectre from one of the neighboring 
tombs. The approach to the abbey through these gloomy 
monastic remains prepares the mind for its solemn contem- 
plation. The cloisters still retain something of the quiet and 
seclusion of former days. The gray walls are discolored by 20 
damps, and crumbling with age j a coat of hoary moss has 
gathered over the inscriptions of the mural monuments, and 
obscured the death's-heads and other funereal emblems. The 
sharp touches of the chisel are gone from the rich tracery of 
the arches ; the roses which adorned the keystones have lost 25 
their leafy beauty; everything bears marks of the gradual 
dilapidations of time, which yet has something touching and 
pleasing in its very decay. 

The sun was pouring down a yellow autumnal ray into the 
square of the cloisters, beaming upon a scanty plot of grass so 

10. Westminster School was founded by Queen Elizabeth. It retains the 
old dormitory of tlie abbey, and the old refectory of the abbot is now used 
as the Hall of the whole establisliment. There is a " foundation " for forty 
boys, who are called ' ' Queen's Scholars." Many distinguished men have been 
pupils there ; among them, Ben Jonson. 

11. Subterranean (from Lat. sub, under, and terra, the earth), under the 
surface of the earth, imdergroimd. 

14. Cloisters (Fr. clottre ; A.-S. claustr ; Lat. claustrum, an enclosed place, 
from Lat. daudere, to shut or shut in), covered passages extending around 
the inner walls of monasteries ; the monks had their lectures in them. Similar 
rooms elsewhere are sometimes called cloisters. 

15. Verger (Fr. verge, a rod, from Lat. virga, a rod), an officer who carries 
a wand before a judge as an emblem of authority ; also an attendant upon a 
church dignitary, as upon a bishop; also a pew-opener, or attendant in a 
church. 

18. Monastic, pertaining to a monastery (a house of religious seclusion 
for monks or sometimes for nuns) or to its iimiates. 
22. Mural, pertaining to a wall. (Lat. mar us, wall.) 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 13 

in the centre, and lighting up an angle of the vaulted passage 
with a kind of dusky si")lendor. From between the arcades 
the eye glanced up to a bit of blue sky or a passing cloud, 
and beheld the sun-gilt pinnacles of the abbey towering into the 
azure heaven. 35 

As I paced the cloisters, sometimes contemplating this min- 
gled picture of glory and decay, and sometimes endeavoring 
to decipher the inscriptions on the tombstones which formed 
the pavement beneath my feet, my eye was attracted to three 
figures, rudely carved in relief, but nearly worn away by 40 
the footsteps of many generations. They were the effigies of 
three of the early abbots : the epitaphs were entirely effaced ; 
the names alone remained, having no doubt been renewed in 
later times (Vitalis . Abbas . 1082, and Gislebertus . Crispi- 
nus . Abbas . 1114, and Lauren tins . Abbas .1176). I re- 45 
mained some little while, musing over these casual relics of 
antiquity, thus left like wrecks upon this distant shore of 
time, telling no tale but that such beings had been and had 
perished ; teaching no moral but the futility of that pride 
■which hopes still to exact homage in its ashes, and to live in so 
an inscription. A little longer, and even these faint records 
will be obliterated, and the monument will cease to be a 
memorial. Whilst I was yet looking down upon these grave- 
stones, I was roused by the sound of the abbey clock, rever- 
berating from buttress to buttress, and echoing among the 55 

41. Eflagies (Lat. effigies, an image ; Lat. e or ex, out, forth, a.n(\ fing^re 
to fashion). An effigy is commonly the head, bust, or full-lengtli portrait in 
sculpture, etc. 

44. Vitalis . Abbas . 1082, etc. In Vitalis's time the first history of the 
aliljey was written by one of his monks. Gislebert was the autlior of various 
scholastic treatises. Lawi-ence procured from the Pope the canonization of 
the Confessor. 

46. Casual (Lat. casm, a fall ; fr. cad^re, to fall, to happen), acciden- 
tal. 

55. Buttress (Fr. louter, to thrust, or aboutir, to border on, to abut), 
a structure of masonry or brickwork, built to resist the horizontal thrust or 
pressure of another structure, as of a wall. Buttresses are much used in 
Gothic architecture. 



14 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

cloisters. It is almost startling to hear this "warning of de- 
parted time sounding among the tombs, and telling the lapse 
of the hour, which, like a billow, has roUed us onward towards 
the grave. I pursued my walk to an arched door opening 
to the interior of the abbey. On entering here, the magnitude eo 
of the building breaks fully upon the mind, contrasted with 
the vaults of the cloisters. The eyes gaze with wonder at 
clustered columns of gigantic dimensions, with arches spring- 
ing from them to such an amazing height; and man wandering 
about their bases, shrunk into insignificance in comparison ^ 
with his own handiwork. The spaciousness and gloom of this 
vast edifice produce a profound and mysterious awe. We step 
cautiously and softly about, as if fearful of disturbing the hal- 
lowed silence of the tomb ; while every footfall whispers along 
the walls, and chatters among the sepulchres, making us more 7o 
sensible of the quiet we have interrupted. 

It seemg as if the awful nature of the place presses down 
upon the soul, and hushes the beholder into noiseless rever- 
ence. We feel that we are surrounded by the congregated 
bones of the great men of past times, who have filled history ^s 
with their deeds, and the earth with their renown. 

And yet it almost provokes a smile at the vanity of human 
ambition, to see how they are crowded together and jostled 
in the dust ; what parsimony is observed in doling out a 
scanty nook, a gloomy corner, a little portion of earth, to those so 
whom, when alive, kingdoms could not satisfy ; and how many 
shapes and forms and artifices are devised to catch the casual 
notice of the passenger, and save from forgetfulness, for a few 

62. Vaults (Ital. volta, a turn ; Lat. volvSre, to roll). In architecture, 
an arched ceiling or roof. 

77. Provoke (Latin pro, forth, and vocare, to call), to call out, to cause, 
to occasion. 

78. Jostled (Fr. jouster, to knock). To jostle is properly to thrust or 
push with the elbows. 

79. Parsimony (Lat. parcSre, to spare ; parsimonia, or parcimonia, spar- 
ingness, frugality). The word usually denotes an excess of frugality, nig- 
gardliness, stinginess. 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 15 

short years, a name which once aspired to occupy ages of the 
world's thought and admiration. 86 

I passed some time in Poets' Corner, which occupies an end 
of one of the transepts or cross aisles of the abbey. The 
monuments are generally simple, for the lives of literary men 
aflFord no striking themes for the sculptor. Shakespeare and 
Addison have statues erected to their memories ; but the greater 90 
part have busts, medallions, and sometimes mere inscriptions. 
Notwithstanding the simplicity of these memorials, I have 
always observed that the visitors to the abbey remained longest 
about them. A kinder and fonder feeling takes place of that 
cold curiosity or vague admiration with which they gaze on 95 
the splendid monuments of the great and the heroic. They 
linger about these as about the tombs of friends and com- 
panions ; for indeed there is something of companionship be- 
tween the author and the reader. Other men are known to 
posterity only through the medium of history, which is contin- 100 
ually growing faint and obscure ; but the intercourse between 
the author and his fellow-men is ever new, active, and imme- 
diate. He has lived for them more than for himself ; he has 
sacrificed surrounding enjoyments, and shut himself up from 
the delights of social life, that he might the more intimately 105 
commune with distant minds and distant ages. Well may the 
world cherish his renown ; for it has been purchased, not by 
deeds of violence and blood, but by the diligent dispensation 
of pleasure. Well may posterity be grateful to his memory ; 
for he has left it an inheritance, not of empty names and no 
sounding actions, but whole treasures of wisdom, bright gems 
of thought, and golden veins of language. 

86. Poets' Corner. This is said to have derived its name from the fact 
that the poet Chaucer was the first literary man buried there. Some authors 
not buried in the abbey have monuments in it. 

89. Shakespeare. Bom 1564 ; died 1616. 

90. Joseph Addison. 1672-1719. His reputation rests principally upon 
his numerous Essays, written for the Tatler, Spectator, and Giuirdian. 

91. Medallions, circular tablets on which figures are embossed. They re- 
semble medals. (Fr. medaille; Ital. medaglia ; a coin of half a certain 
value, from Latin medietas, half, from medius, in the middle of.) 



16 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

From Poets' Corner I continued my stroll towards that part 
of the abbey which contains the sepulchres of the kings. I 
wandered among what once were chapels, but which are now us 
occupied by the tombs and monuments of the great. At every 
turn I met with some illustrious name, or the cognizance of 
some powerful house renowned in history. As the eye darts 
into these dusky chambers of death, it catches glimpses of 
quaint effigies ; some kneeling in niches, as if in devotion ; 139 
others stretched upon the tombs, with hands piously pressed 
together : warriors in armor, as if reposing after battle ; prel- 
ates with crosiers and mitres ; and nobles in robes and coro- 
nets, lying as it were in state. In glancing over this scene, so 
strangely populous, yet where every form is so still and silent, 125 
it seems almost as if we were treading a mansion of that fabled 
city where every being had been sucTdenly transmuted into 
stone. 

I paused to contemplate a tomb on which lay the effigy of 
a knight in complete armor. A large buckler was on one 130 
arm ; the hands were pressed together in supplication upon 
the breast ; the face was almost covered by the morion ; the 
legs were crossed, in token of the warrior's having been en- 
gaged in the holy war. It was the tomb of a crusader, — of 

123. Crosier, a gilded staff surmounted by a cross. (Fr. croce, crosse, 
a bishop's staff; Ital. croccia, from Mediaeval Lat. crucea, a cross-shaped 
crutch, from Lat. crux, cross.) Mitre, an ornament for the head worn by 
the pope and cardinals, also by Protestant archbishops and bishops on sol- 
emn occasions ; a kind of Episcopal crown, resembling a cap pointed and 
cleft at the top. (Gr. mitra, a fillet round the head, a chaplet, turban.) 
Coronet (Lat. cmvna, crown; diminutive corcnietta, little crown), an inferior 
crown worn by noblemen. 

126. That fabled city. In the Arabian Nights' Enterlaimnent, Sixty- 
fifth Night, we find the following : " On the last day of that year, at four 
o'clock in the morning, all the inhabitants were changed in an instant into 
stone, every one in the condition and posture he happened to be in." 

130. Buckler, a shield. (From Fr. boucle, a buckle or protuberance, such 
as on the boss of a shield.) 

132. Morion, a kind of helmet. (Perhaps from Fr. Mure, a Moor ; Lat. 
Maurus, Moor ; Dutch Mooriaan is a Moor.) 

134. Crusader (from Lat. crux, crucis, a cross), one employed in a 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 17 

one of those military enthusiasts, who so strangely mingled 135 
religion and romance, and whose exploits form the connecting 
Imk between fact and fiction, between the history and the 
fairy-tale. There is something extremely picturesque in the 
tombs of these adventurers, decorated as they are with rude 
armorial bearings and Gothic sculpture. They comport with uo 
the antiquated chapels in which they are generally found ; and 
in considering them, the imagination is apt to kindle with 
the legendary associations, the romantic fiction, the chivalrous 
pomp and pageantry, which poetry has spread over the wars 
for the sepulchre of Christ. They are the relics of times 145 
utterly gone by, of beings passed from recollection, of customs 
and manners with which ours have no afiinity. They are like 
objects from'some strange and distant land, of which we have 
no certain knowledge, and about which all our conceptions 
are vague and visionary. There is something extremely solemn j^g 
and aAvful in those effigies on Gothic tombs, extended as if in 
the sleep of death or in the supplication of the dying hour. 
They have an effect infinitely more impressive on my feelings 
than the fanciful attitudes, the overwrought conceits, and alle- 
gorical groups which abound on modern monuments. I have 155 
been struck, also, with the superiority of many of the old 
sepulchral inscriptions. There was a noble way, in former 
times, of saying things simply, and yet saying them proudly ; 
and I do not know an epitaph that breathes a loftier conscious- 

cnisade or military expedition, undertaken by the Christians, to recover the 
Holy Land, the scene of our Saviour's life and sufferings, from the power of 
the infidels or Mohammedans. The first was in 1096, the last in 1270. A 
cross of red stuff attached to the right shoulder was the badge of the com- 
batants. Sometimes the color of the cross served to designate the nationality 
of the soldier ; as, the white cross on a red gi-ound indicated France ; a red 
cross on a white gi-oimd, England. The principal crusades were six in num- 
ber. They were enormously destructive of human life, yet not without 
compensation. 

140. Gothic, pertaining to the Goths. In architecture, a term at first 
applied with contempt to the European architecture of the Middle Ages ; its 
chief characteristic being the predominance of the pointed arch. Armorial 
bearings, devices on shields. 



18 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

ness of family worth and honorable lineage than one which leo 
affirms of a noble house, that " all the brothers were brave, 
and all the sisters virtuous." 

In the opposite transept to Poets' Corner stands a monu- 
ment which is among the most renowned achievements of 
modern art, but which to me appears horrible rather than les 
sublime. It is the tomb of Mrs. Nightingale, by Eoubillac. 
The bottom of the monument is represented as throwing open 
its marble doors, and a sheeted skeleton is starting forth. 
The shroud is falhng from his fleshless frame as he launches 
his dart at his victim. She is sinking into her affrighted i7o 
husband's arms, who strives, with vain and frantic effort, to 
avert the blow. The whole is executed with terrible truth 
and spirit ; we almost fancy we hear the gibbering yell of 
triumph bursting from the distended jaws of the spectre. But 
why should we thus seek to clothe death with unnecessary irs 
terrors, and to spread horrors round the tomb of those we 
love] The grave should be surrounded by everything that 
might inspire tenderness and veneration for the dead, or that 
might win the living to virtue. It is the place, not of dis- 
gust and dismay, but of sorrow and meditation. iso 

While wandering about these gloomy vaults and silent 
aisles, studying the records of the dead, the sound of busy 
existence from without occasionally reaches the ear, — the 
rumbling of the passing equipage, the murmur of the multi- 
tude, or perhaps the light laugh of pleasure. The contrast is iss 

166. Tomb of Mrs. Nightingale. The author's description is very vivid 
and accurate. Tliis monument was erected in 1758 to commemorate the 
premature death of Lady Elizabeth Shirley, w^ife of Joseph Gascoigne Night- 
ingale. A tradition of the abbey says that a robber, coming into the abbey 
by moonlight, was so frightened by the figure of Death, " a sheeted skele- 
ton," that he fled in terror, and left his crowbar on the pavement. Boubil- 
lac, L. F. He was an eminent French sculptor, born in Lyons. He visited 
England, where he made monuments and statiies. He died in 1762. 

173. Gibbering (akin to gabble SiXiA jabber). It represents, by a sort of 
imitation, the sound of rapid talking without reference to meaning. Pro- 
nounced gibbering, with g hard ; not jibbcring. 

184. Equipage (Fr. Squiper, to attire, provide with appropriate furniture. 



WEMINSTER ABBEY. 19 

striking with the deathhke repose around : and it has a strange 
eflect upon the feehngs, thus to hear the surges of active hfe 
hurrying along, and beating against the very walls of the 
sepulchre. 

I continued in this way to move from tomb to tomb, and loo 
from chapel to chapel. The day was gradually wearing away ; 
the distant tread of loiterers about the abbey grew less and less 
frequent ; the sweet-tongued beU was summoning to evening 
prayers ; and I saw at a distance the choristers, in their white 
surplices, crossing the aisle and entering the choir. I stood 195 
before the entrance to Henry the Seventh's chapel. A flight of 
steps lead up to it, through a deep and gloomy, but magnificent 
arch. Great gates of brass, richly and delicately wrought, turn 
heavily upon their hinges, as if proudly reluctant to admit 
the feet of common mortals into this most georgeous of sepul- 200 
chres. 

On entering, the eye is astonished by the pomp of archi- 
tecture, and the elaborate beauty of sculptured detail. The 
very walls are wroiight into universal ornament, incrusted with 
tracery, and scooped into niches, crowded with the statues of 205 
saints and martyrs. Stone seems, by the cunning labor of the 
chisel, to have been robbed of its weight and density, sus- 
pended aloft, as if by magic, and the fretted roof achieved with 
the wonderful minuteness and airy security of a cobweb. 

equip ; akin to A.-S. sceapan, scyppan, to forrti ; Ger. schaffen, to shape, 
provide, furnish), retinue, attendance, as the carriage, horses, and liveries 
of a person of rank or fortune. 

195. Surplices (Fr. mrplis, Old Fr. surpelis, from super-pellicmm, an 
over-garment), linen gowns worn over the other garments of an ecclesiastic. 

196. Henry the Seventh's chapel. The chapel is entered by twelve 
steps ; the gates are of oak, with profuse brass and gilt ornamentation. It 
consists of a nave, two aisles, and five smaller chapels at the east end, and is, 
in fact, a continuation of the choir of the abbey itself. This chapel is in 
striking contrast with the king's closeness and prudence in life. 

205. Tracery, the ornamental stone-work in the upper part of Gothic 
■windows ; also similar decorations in Gothic architecture on panellings, 
ceilings, etc. Niches, recesses in walls for statues, vases, and other upright 
ornaments. 

208. Fretted roof (Old Fr. freter, to cross, interlace), a roof ornamented 



20 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

Along the sides of the chapel are the lofty stalls of the 210 
Knights of the Bath, richly carved of oak, though with the 
grotesque decorations of Gothic architecture. On the pin- 
nacles of the stalls are affixed the helmets and crests of the 
knights, with their scarfs and swords ; and above them are 
suspended their banners, emblazoned with armorial bearings, 215 
and contrasting the splendor of gold and purple and crimson 
with the cold gray fretwork of the roof. In the midst of this 
grand mausoleum stands the sepulchre of its founder, — his 
effigy, with that of his queen, extended on a sumptuous tomb, 
and the whole surrounded by a superbly wrought brazen 220 
railing. 

There is a sad dreariness in this magnificence ; this strange 
mixture of tombs and trophies ; these emblems of living and 
aspiring ambition, close beside mementos which show the dust 
and oblivion in which all must, sooner or later, terminate. 225 
Nothing impresses the mind with a deeper feeling of loneliness 
than to tread the silent and deserted scene of former throng 
and pageant. On looking round on the vacant stalls of the 
knights and their esquires, and on the rows of dusty but 
gorgeous banners that were once borne before them, my imagi-- 230 
nation conjured up the scene when this hall was bright with 
the valor and beauty of the land, glittering with the splendor 
of jewelled rank and military array, alive with the tread of 
many feet and the hum of an admiring multitude. All had 
passed away ; the silence of death had settled again upon the 235 

by bands, bars, or fillets, crossing each other in different patterns. In Mil- 
ton's Paradise Lost we have, " The roof was fretted gold." 

211. Knights of tlie Bath. In tlie early coronations it was the practice 
of the sovereigns before the ceremony to create a number of knights ; and as 
one of the most striking features of their admission was a bath on the vigils 
of their knighthood, in token of the cleanliness and purity of their future 
lives, they were called Knights of the Bath. This name first appears in the 
time of Henry IV. Since 1839 no banners have been added to those already 
hung in the chapel. 

215. Emblazoned, painted or portrayed in proper colors or figures. 

218. Mausoleum (pronounced Mau-soW -mn ; from Mausolus, King of 
Caria, whose widow, b. c. 353, erected a splendid monument at Halicarnassus 
to the memory of her husband), a magnificent tomb or sepulcliral monument. 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 21 

place, interrupted only by the casual chirping of birds, which 
had found tlieir way into the chapel, and built their nests 
among its friezes and pendants, — sure signs of solitariness 
and desertion. 

When I read the names inscribed on the banners, they were 240 
those of men scattered far and wide about the world ; some 
tossing upon distant seas, some under arms in distant lands, 
some mingling in the busy intrigues of courts and cabinets ; 
all seeking to deserve one more distinction in this mansion of 
shadowy honors, — the melancholy reward of a monument. 2« 

Two small aisles on each side of this chapel present a touch- 
ing instance of the equality of the grave, which brings down 
the oppressor to a level with the oppressed, and mingles the 
dust of the bitterest enemies together. In one is the sepulchre 
of the haughty Elizabeth ; in the other is that of her victim, 250 
the lovely and unfortunate Mary. Not an hour in the day but 
some ejaculation of pity is uttered over the fate of the latter, 
mingled with indignation at her oppressor. The walls of 
Elizabeth's sepulchre continually echo with the sighs of sym- 
pathy heaved at the grave of her rival. 255 

A peculiar melancholy reigns over the aisle where Mary lies 
buried. The light struggles dimly through windows darkened 
by dust. The greater part of the place is in deep shadow, 
and the walls are stained and tinted by time and weather. A 
marble figure of Mary is stretched upon the tomb, round which 2G0 
is an iron railing, much corroded, bearing her national emblem, 
— the thistle. I was weary with wandering, and sat down to 
rest myself by the monument, revolving in my mind the check- 
ered and disastrous story of poor Mary. 

238. Friezes. Thefj-ieze in architecture is that part of the entablature 
below the cornice but above the architrave or chief beam resting on the top 
of tlie column. 

250. Elizabeth, Queen of England, reigned from 1558 to 1603. 

260. Mary, Queen of Scots, born 1542, executed 1587. She was the 
daughter of James V. of Scotland. For her biography consult the histories 
and the cyclopo3dias. 

262. The thistle is the emblem of Scotland. . Weary with wandering. 
What is alliteration ? 



22 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

The sound of casual footsteps had ceased from the abbey. I 255 
could only hear, now and then, the distant voice of the priest 
repeating the evening service, and the faint responses of the 
choir ; these paused for a time, and all was hushed. The still- 
ness, the desertion and obscurity that were gradually prevailing 
around, gave a deeper and more solemn interest to the place : 270 

" For in the silent grave no conversation, 
No joyful tread of friends, no voice of lovers, 
No careful father's counsel, — nothing's heard, 
For nothing is, but all oblivion, 
Dust, and an endless darloiess." 2:5 

Suddenly the notes of the deep-laboring organ burst upon 
the ear, falling with doubled and redoubled intensity, and roll- 
ing, as it were, huge billows of sound. How well do their 
volume and grandeur accord with this mighty building ! With 
what pomp do they swell through its vast vaults, and breathe 280 
their awful harmony through these caves of death, and make 
the silent sepulchre vocal ! And now they rise in triumphant 
acclamation, heaving higher and higher their accordant notes, 
and piling sound on sound. And now they pause, and the soft 
voices of the choir break out into sweet gushes of melody ; 28s 
they soar aloft, and warble along the roof, and seem to play 
about these lofty vaults like the pure airs of heaven. Again 
the pealing organ heaves its thrilling thunders, compressing 
air into music, and rolling it forth upon the soul. What long- 
drawn cadences ! What solemn sweeping concords ! It grows 290 
more and more dense and powerful, — it fills the vast pile, 
and seems to jar the very walls ; the ear is stunned, the senses 
are overwhelmed. And now it is winding up in full jubilee, — 

267. Responses of the choir. In the English church the congregation 
answer the minister, as in the litany or the psalms, by reading alternate 
petitions or verses. When the service is performed in the most ceremonious 
and impressive manner, as in Westminster Abbey, the responses are chanted 
by the choir, composed of men and boys. 

276. The deep-laboring organ. This is a remarkable piece of descrip- 
tion ; the words are so skilfully selected and combined that the passage 
almost reproduces in sound the music itself. 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 23 

it is rising from the earth to heaven, — the very soul seems rapt 
away and floated upwards on this swelling tide of harmony ! 205 

I sat for some time lost in that kind of reverie which a 
strain of music is apt sometimes to inspire ; the shadows of 
evening were gradually thickening round me ; the monuments 
began to cast deeper and deeper gloom ; and the distant clock 
again gave token of the slowly waning day. 300 

I rose and prepared to leave the abbey. As I descended 
the flight of steps which lead into the body of the building, 
my eye was caught by the shrine of Edward the Confessor, 
and I ascended the small staircase that conducts to it, to take 
from thence a general survey of this wilderness of tombs. The sos 
shrine is elevated upon a kind of platform, and close around it 
are the sepulchres of various kings and queens. From this 
eminence the eye looks down between pillars and funereal tro- 
phies to the chapels and chambers below, crowded with tombs ; 
where warriors, prelates, courtiers, and statesmen lie moulder- 310 
ing in their "beds of darkness." Close by me stood the great 
chair of coronation, rudely carved of oak, in the barbarous taste 
of a remote and Gothic age. The scene seemed almost as if 
contrived, with theatrical artifice, to produce an effect upon the 
beholder. Here was a type of the beginning and the end of sis 
human pomp and power ; here it was literally but a step from 
the throne to the sepulchre. Would not one think that these 
incongruous mementos had been gathered together as a lesson 

303. Edward the Confessor (King of England from 1041 to 1065), founder 
of the abbey. 

312. Chair of Coronation. The oak coronation-chair was made by order 
of Edward I., and in it was enclosed the stone of Scone, brought by him from 
Scotland. A legend identified this stone as the pillow on which Jacob slept 
at Bethel {Gen. xxviii. 11). After many wanderings it was deposited in the 
Abbey of Scone, and the kings of Scotland sat on it durmg the ceremony of 
being crowned. Edward I. intended to present this stone, as a trophy of his 
conquest of Scotland, to Edward the Confessor's Shrine. In this oak chair 
all the English sovereigns since Edward the First's time have sat to be crowned. 
Cromwell was formally made Lord Protector in Westminster Hall, and for 
tliis ceremony the coronation-chair was used. This is said to have been the 
only time it was ever carried out of the abbey. 



24 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

to living greatness 1 — to show it, even in the moment of its 
proudest exaltation, the neglect and dishonor to which it must 320 
soon arrive; how soon that crown which encircles its brow 
must pass away, and it must lie down in the dust and dis- 
graces of the tomb, and be trampled upon by the feet of the 
meanest of the multitude. For, strange to tell, even the grave 
is here no longer a sanctuary. There is a shocking levity in 325 
some natures, which leads them to sport with awful and hal- 
lowed things ; and there are base minds, which delight to 
revenge on the illustrious dead the abject homage and grovel- 
ling servility which they pay to the living. The coffin of 
Edward the Confessor has been broken open, and his remains 330 
despoiled of their funereal ornaments ; the sceptre has been 
stolen from the hand of the imperious Elizabeth, and the effigy 
of Henry the Fifth lies headless. Not a royal monument but 
bears some proof how false and fugitive is the homage of man- 
kind. Some are plundered, some mutilated ; some covered ^^ 
with ribaldry and insult, — all more or less outraged and dis- 
honored ! 

The last beams of day were now faintly streaming through 
the painted windows in the high vaults above me ; the lower 
parts of the abbey were already wrapped in the obscurity of 340 
twUight. The chapel and aisles grew darker and darker. 
The effigies of the kings faded into shadows ; the marble 
figures of the monuments assumed strange shapes in the un- 
certain light ; the evening breeze crept through the aisles like 
the cold breath of the grave ; and even the distant footfall of 345 
a verger, traversing the Poets' Corner, had something strange 
and dreary in its sound. I slowly retraced my morning's walk, 
and as I passed out at the portal of the cloisters, the door, closing 
with a jarring noise behind me, filled the whole building with 
echoes. 8«o 

I endeavored to form some arrangement in my mind of the 
objects I had been contemplating, but found they were already 

333. Henry the Fifth, King of England from 1413 to 1422. 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 25 

fallen into indistinctness and confusion. Names, inscriptions, 
trophies, had all become confounded in my recollection, though 
I had scarcely taken my foot from off the threshold. What, 355 
thought I, is this vast assemblage of sepulchres but a treasury 
of humiliation, a huge pile of reiterated homilies on the empti- 
ness of renown and the certainty of oblivion ! It is, indeed, 
the empire of Death, — his great shadowy palace, where he sits 
in state, mocking at the relics of human glory, and spreading 360 
dust and forgetfulness on the monuments of princes. How idle 
a boast, after all, is the immortality of a name ! Time is ever 
silently turning over his pages ; we are too much engrossed by 
the story of the present to think of the characters and anecdotes 
that gave interest to the past ; and each age is a volume thrown ses 
aside to be speedily forgotten. The idol of to-day pushes the 
hero of yesterday out of our recollection ; and will, in turn, be 
supplanted by his successor of to-morrow. " Our fathers," says 
Sir Thomas Browne, " find their graves in our short memories, 
and sadly tell us how we may be buried in our survivors." 370 
History fades into fable ; fact becomes clouded with doubt and 
controversy ; the inscription moulders from the tablet ; the statue 
falls from the pedestal. Columns, arches, pyramids, — what are 
they but heaps of sand, and their epitaphs but characters written 
in the dust 1 What is the security of a tomb, or the perpetuity 375 
of an embalmment] The remains of Alexander the Great have 



359. The empire of Death. What is personification ? 

369. Sir Thomas Browne, M. D., was a merchant's son, horn in London in 
1605 ; was knighted by Charles II. in 1671 ; died in 1682. The Religio Medici 
(The Religion of a Physician) was his first and most remarkable work. Dr. 
Johnson says of him, "There is scarce any kind of knowledge, profane or 
sacred, abstruse or elegant, which he does not appear to have cultivated with 
success." 

374. Epitaph (Gr. iirl, upon ; rd^os, tomb), an inscription on a monument 
in honor or memory of the dead. 

376. Alexander the Great. He was the son of Philip of Macedon ; con- 
quered Greece, and finally made himself master of the known world : he died 
B. 0. 324. A stone coffin in the British Museum, found at Alexandria, was 
fancied by Dr. Clark, the traveller, to be the identical sarcophagus that once 
contained the body of Alexander. 



26 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

been scattered to the winds, and his empty sarcophagus is now 
the mere curiosity of a museum. " The Egyptian mummies, 
which Cambyses or time hath spared, avarice now consumeth ; 
Mizraim cures wounds, and Pharaoh is sold for balsams." sao 

What, then, is to insure this pile which now towers above me 
from sharing the fate of mightier mausoleums 1 The time must 
come when its gilded vaults, which now spring so loftily, shall 
lie in rubbish beneath the feet ; when, instead of the sound of 
melody and praise, the wind shall whistle through the brulcen sas 
arches, and the owl hoot from the shattered tower, — when the 
garish sunbeam shall break into these gloomy mansions of death, 
and the ivy twine round the fallen column, and the foxglove 
hang its blossoms about the nameless urn, as if in mockery of 
the dead. Thus man passes away; his name perishes from record 390 
and recollection; his history is as a tale that is told, and his very 
monument becomes a ruin ! 

877. Sarcophagus (Gr. (rapKo^dyos, from cdp^, sarx, flesh, and ^a.ye'tv, 
phagein, to eat ; from a notion that the stone consumed in a few weeks the 
flesh of bodies deposited in it), a stone coflin or tomb. 

378. Mammies. A dead body embalmed and dried after the Egyptian 
manner. One of the simplest processes was drying by the iise of salt or natron, 
and wrapping in coarse cloth. The bodies of the rich underwent the most 
complicated operations ; perfumes were put into the body, it was covered 
with natron and steeped in it for seventy days ; after this it was washed, 
steeped in balsam, and wrapped up in linen bandages, sometimes to the num- 
ber of twenty thicknesses. Various ornaments were placed above the bandages, 
particularly about the head. Mummies were formerly much used in medicine 
on account of the balsam they contain. Hence " avarice now consumeth " 
the mummies which the conquerors of Egypt or " time hath spared." The 
bodies of great kings may enrich the maker of patent medicine ! 

379. Cambyses, King of Persia, conquered Egypt 525 B. c. 

380. Mizraim. The first mortal king of Mizraim, " the double land," is 
said to have been Menes. He inherited Upper Egypt, and made himself mas- 
ter of Lower Egypt. Menes may be considered the founder of the empire. 
The word Mizraim here seems to mean the oldest kings or nobles of Egypt. 
See Genesis, x. 6. Pharaoh. The title of Pharaoh was like that of Czar or 
Sultan, and given to a series of different dynasties in Egypt. 

387. Oarish, glaring, staring. 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 27 



SUGGESTIONS OF TOPICS OF INQUIRY. 

Where is Westminster Abbey ? 

How is the word minster used ? 

Who was the founder of the abbey ? Edward the Confessor ? 

What tradition influenced in selecting the site ? 

When did the abbey lose its conventual character ? Why ? 

At what season of the year did Irving visit the abbey ? 

Is there any fact or description in the sketch that- shows the age of the 
building ? 

What were the author's thoughts as he passed from the cloisters into the 
abbey ? 

Where do visitors linger longest ? Why ? 

What epitaijh does Irving notice ? What criticism does he make on it ? 

What does he think of Mrs. Nightingale's monument ? 

" Beating against the very walls of the sepulchre." What is the sepul- 
chre ? Why so called ? 

Describe the walls and roof of Henry the Seventh's chapel. 

Where is Henry the Seventh's tomb ? Define mausoleum. 

" Sure signs of solitariness and desertion." What are the signs ? Why are 
they signs of solitariness and desertion ? 

Does Irving favor Mary or Elizabeth in what he says ? Give a reason for 
your answer. 

Commit to memory the description of the music of the organ. 

Who was Edward the Confessor ? 

" It was literally but a step from the throne to the sepulchre." Explain. 

What lesson do these " incongruous mementos " teach ? 

What time of the day was it when Irving left the abbey ? 

" It is indeed the empire of Death." What is the empire of Death ? 

" Columns, arches, pyramids, — what are they but heaps of sand, and 
their epitaphs but characters ivritten in the dust V Explain with special 
reference to the italicized words. 

Make short, pointed quotations from this sketch. 

Give the substance of the last paragraph in fresh words. 

What is the general character of this sketch ? Description ? Reason for 
your answer ? 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 

POUND AMONG THE PAPERS OF THE LATE DIEDRICH KNICKER- 
BOCKER. 

" A pleasing land of drowsy head it was, 

Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye ; 
And of gay castles in the clouds that pass, 
Forever flushing round a summer sky." 

Castle of Indolence. 

In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent 
the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the 
river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan 
Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail, and im- 
plored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there 5 
lies a smaU market-town or rural port, which by some is called 
Greensburgh, but which is more generally and properly known 
by the name of Tarry Town. This name was given, we are 
told, in former days, by the good housewives of the adjacent 
country, from the inveterate propensity of their husbands to 10 
linger about the village tavern on market-days. Be that as it 

Castle of Indolence. A celebrated poem, published in 1748, by James 
Thomson, who wrote also The Seasons. Bom in 1700 ; died 1748. 

3. Tappan Zee. This is ten miles long and four wifle. (Zee — sea. ) 

5. St. Nicholas. The original St. Nicholas was bishop of Myra in Lycia. 
On a voyage to Palestine, it is said, a sailor was drowned, and St. Nicholas 
restored him to life. A dangerous storm occurred, and the sailors besought 
him to save them ; he prayed, and the storm ceased. He is identified with 
the Dutch Santa Glaus, and is the patron saint of children, sailors, travellers, 
and merchants, also of the Russian nation. St. Nicholas is very often in- 
voked and alluded to in Irving's humorous History of New York (see Book 
II. Chapters 2 and 5 ; Book VI. Chapters 4, 8, and 9). 

8. Tarrytown is twenty-seven miles from New York. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 29 

may, I do not vouch for the fact, but merely advert to it for 
the sake of being precise and authentic. Not far from this 
village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley, or 
rather lap of land, among high hills, which is one of the is 
quietest places in the whole world. A small brook glides 
through it, with just murmur enough to lull one to repose; 
and the occasional whistle of a quail or tapping of a Avood- 
pecker is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the 
uniform tranquillity. 20 

I recollect that, when a stripling, my first exploit in squirrel- 
shooting was in a grove of tall walnut-trees that shades one side 
of the valley. I had wandered into it at noontime, when all 
nature is peculiarly quiet, and was startled by the roar of my 
own gun, as it broke the Sabbath stiUness around and was pro- 25 
longed and reverberated by the angry echoes. If ever I should 
wish for a retreat, whither I might steal from the world and its 
distractions, and dream quietly away the remnant of a troubled 
life, I know of none more promising than this little valley. 

From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar char- 30 
acter of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original 
Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by 
the name of Sleepy Hollow, and its rustic lads are called the 
Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. 
A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and 35 
to pervade the very atmosphere. Some say that the place was 
bewitched by a high German doctor, during the early days of 
the settlement ; others, that an old Indian chief, the prophet or 
wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there before the country 
was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson. Certain it is the « 

26. Reverberated (Lat. re, back, again ; verherare, to lash, strike ; from 
verher, a lash), driven back, returned. If ever I should wish for a re- 
treat, etc. This desire was gratified literally, when Irving was owner of 
Sunnyside. 

39. Powwows. A powwow was a meeting held with incantations before 
a hunt, a council, a warlike expedition, etc., at which there were feasting, 
dancing, and great noise and confusion. 

40. Hendrick Hudson, The distinguished navigator after whom Hud- 



30 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

place still continues tinder the sway of some witching power, 
that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing 
them to walk in a continual reverie. They are given to all 
kinds of marvellous beliefs, are subject to trances and visions, 
and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in 
the air. The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, 
haunted spots, and twilight superstitions ; stars shoot and 
meteors glare oftener across the valley than in any other part 
of the country, and the nightmare, with her whole nine fold, 
seems to make it the favorite scene of her gambols. 

The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted 
region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers 
of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a 
head. It is said by some to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper, 
whose head had been carried away by a cannon-baU, in some 
nameless battle during the Eevolutionary War, and who is ever 
and anon seen by the country-folk hurrying along in the gloom 
of night, as if on the wings of the wind. His haunts are not 
confined to the valley, but extend at times to the adjacent 

son's Bay, Hudson's Straits, and the Hudson River were named. He dis- 
covered the river in his second great voyage, while seeking to find a north- 
west passage to Cliina and India. 

49. The nightmare, with her whole nine fold, etc. Nightmare is derived 
from Icelandic mara, a nightmare ; akin to Polish mara, vision, dream ; per- 
haps Lat. lemures, troublesome nocturnal ghosts. The nightmare was sup- 
posed to seize men in their sleep, and take away their speech and power to 
move. 

" Saint Withold footed thrice the wold ; 
He met the nightmare and her nine fold, 
Bid her alight, 
And her troth plight, 
Andj'Aroint thee, witch, aroint thee." 

King Lear, Act III. Sc. 4. 

50. Gambols, sportful leapings. See note on this word in The Voyage, 
p. 3. 

51. Dominant (Lat. dominari, to rule ; from dominus, master), prevailing, 
ruling. 

54. Hessian. In 1776 the British government hired of petty German 
princes about 16,000 troops. They were called Hessians, because most of 
them belonged to Hesse-Cassel, a province of Western Germany. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 31 

roads, and especially to the vicinity of a church at no great eo 
distance. Indeed, certain of the most authentic historians of 
those parts, who have been careful in collecting and collating 
the floating facts concerning this spectre, allege that the body 
of the trooper having been buried in the churchyard, the ghost 
rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head ; es 
and that the rushing speed with which he sometimes passes 
along the Hollow like a midnight blast, is owing to his being 
belated and in a hurry to get back to the churchyard before 
daybreak. 

Such* is the general purport of this legendary superstition, 70 
which has furnished materials for many a wild story in that 
region of shadows ; and the spectre is known at all the country 
firesides by the name of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy 
Hollow. 

It is remarkable that the visionary propensity I have men- 75 
tioned is not confined to the native inhabitants of the valley, 
but is unconsciously imbibed by every one who resides there 
for a time. However wide awake they may have been before 
they entered that sleepy region, they are sure, in a little time, 
to inhale the witching influence of the air, and begin to grow so 
imaginative, to dream dreams and see apparitions. 

I mention this peaceful spot with all possible laud ; for it is 
in such little retired Dutch valleys, found here and there em- 
bosomed in the great State of New York, that population, 
manners, and customs remain fixed ; while the great torrent as 
of migration and improvement, which is making such incessant 

62, Collating (Lat. conferre, coHaium, to bring together), laying together 
and comparing, by examining the points in which two or more things of a 
similar kind agree or disagree. The word is applied particularly to passages 
in manuscripts and books. 

70. Purport (Old Fr. pourporter, declare, make known ; Lat. pro, forth, 
3.nd. portare, to carry), design, tendency, meaning, import. 

77, 78. Every one .... they. Is this an error in the number of the pro- 
noun? 

82. Laud (Lat. laus, laudis, praise), praise, commendation. 

86. Migration (Lat. migrare, to quit or leave a place), change of residence, 
removal. 



32 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

changes in other parts of this restless country, sweeps by them 
unobserved. They are like those little nooks of still water 
which border a rapid stream, where we may see the straw and 
bubble riding quietly at anchor, or slowly revolving in their 90 
mimic harbor, undisturbed by the rush of the passing current. 
Though many years have elapsed since I trod the drowsy 
shades of Sleepy Hollow, yet I question whether I should not 
still find the same trees and the same families vegetating in its 
sheltered bosom. 95 

In this by-place of nature there abode, in a remote period of 
American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a 
worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane ; who sojourned, 
or, as he expressed it, "tarried," in Sleepy Hollow, for the 
purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity. He was a 100 
native of Connecticut, a State which supplies the Union with 
pioneers for the mind as well as for the forest, and sends forth 
yearly its legions of frontier woodmen and country schoolmasters. 
The cognomen of Crane was not inapplicable to his person. He 
was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms 105 
and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that 
might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely 
hung together. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge 
ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so that it 
looked like a weathercock perched upon his spindle neck to tell no 
which way the wind blew. To see him striding along the pro- 
file of a hill on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and 
fluttering about him, one might have mistaken him for the 

94. Vegetating, living like vegetables or plants. The word is peculiarly 
appropriate to human life in Sleepy Hollow. 

96. Bemote period .... some thirty years since. Notice the seeming 
contradiction. To Irving's quiet humor thii-ty years is a long period in our 
fast American life. 

98. Wight (akin to whit, a small part), a creature, person, being. The 
■word is nearly obsolete, except in slight contempt or irony. 

104. Cogno'men (Lat. con, with; nomen, name), the last of the three names 
■which belonged to all Romans of good family ; surname. 

109. Snipe nose. The snipe is a small bird with a very long bill. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 33 

genius of famine descending upon the earth, or some scarecrow 
eloped from a cornfield. lu 

His school-house was a low building of one large room, rudely 
constructed of logs ; the windows partly glazed, and partly 
patched with leaves of old copy-books. It was most ingeniously 
secured at vacant hours by a withe twisted in the handle of the 
door, and stakes set against the window-shutters ; so that, though 120 
a thief might get in with perfect ease, he would find some em- 
barrassment in getting out, — an idea most probably borrowed 
I by the architect, Yost Van Houten, from the mystery of an 
eel-pot. The school-house stood in a rather lonely but pleasant 
situation, just at the foot of a woody hill, with a brook running 123 
close by, and a formidable birch-tree growing at one end of it. 
From hence the low murmur of his pupils' voices, conning over 
their lessons, might be heard in a drowsy summer's day, like 
the hum of a beehive ; interrupted now and then by the authori- 
tative voice of the master, in the tone of menace or command ; is" 
or, peradventure, by the appalling sound of the birch as he 
urged some tardy loiterer along the flowery path of knowledge. 
Truth to say, he was a conscientious man, and ever bore in 
mind the golden maxim, *' Spare the rod and spoil the child." 
Ichabod Crane's scholars certainly were not spoiled. 135 

I would not have it imagined, however, that he was one of 
those cruel potentates of the school who joy in the smart of their 
subjects ; on the contrary, he administered justice with discrimi- 
nation rather than severity, taking the burthen ofi" the backs 
of the weak, and laying it on those of the strong. Your mere 140 
puny stripling, that winced at the least flourish of the rod, was 
passed by with indulgence ; but the claims of justice were satis- 

119. Withe, a band consisting of a twig or twigs twisted, used for tying 
or binding. 

124. Eel-pot, a basket-like trap for catching eels. 

126. Formidable (Lat. formido, dread), exciting great fear, calculated to 
inspire dread. Lines 130 to 135 show the appropriateness of this epithet : 
"Spare the rod," etc. Hicdibras, by Samuel Butler, 1612-1680. "He that 
spareth his rod hateth his son." Proverbs xiii. 24. 

141. Winced (akin to wink), made a sudden shrinking movement. 



34 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

fied by inflicting a double portion on some little tough, -wrong- 
headed, broad-skirted Dutch urchin, who sulked and swelled 
and grew dogged and sullen beneath the birch. All this he ms 
called " doing his duty by their parents " ; and he never in- 
flicted a chastisement without following it by the assurance, so 
consolatory to the smarting urchin, that " he would remember 
it and thank him for it the longest day he had to live." 

When school-hours were over, he was even the companion 150 
and playmate of the larger boys ; and on holiday afternoons 
would convoy some of the smaller ones home, who happened 
to have pretty sisters, or good housewives for mothers, noted for 
the comforts of the cupboard. Indeed, it behooved him to keep 
on good terms with his pupils. The revenue arising from his iss 
school was small, and would have been scarcely sufficient to ' 
furnish him with daily bread, for he was a huge feeder, and, 
though lank, had the dilating powers of an anaconda ; but to 
help out his maintenance, he was, according to country custom 
in those parts, boarded and lodged at the houses of the farmers leo 
whose children he instructed. With these he lived succes- 
sively a week at a time ; thus going the rounds of the neigh- 
borhood, with all his worldly effects tied up in a cotton hand- 
kerchief. 

That all this might not be too onerous on the purses of his iss 
rustic patrons, who are apt to consider the costs of schooling a 
grievous burden, and schoolmasters as mere drones, he had 
various ways of rendering himself both useful and agreeable. 
He assisted the farmers occasionally in the lighter labors of their 
farms, helped to make hay, mended the fences, took the horses 170 
to water, drove the cows from pasture, and cut wood for the 
winter fire. He laid aside, too, all the dominant dignity and 

144, Urchin (Lat. ericius, hedgehog ; the urchin figures extensively in 
•witchcraft and demonology, and the word sometimes stands for a mischievous 
spirit), roguish boy, 

154. Comforts of the cupboard. The description of the tea-table at Van 
Tassel's on a subsequent page fully explains this expression. 

158. Dilating powers, etc. The anaconda is noted for swallowing large 
animals. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 35 

absolute sway with which he lorded it in his little empire, the 
school, and became wonderfully gentle and ingratiating. He 
found favor in the eyes of the mothers by petting the children, 175 
particularly the youngest ; and Hke the Uon bold, which whilom 
so magnanimously the lamb did hold, he would sit with a child 
on one knee, and rock a cradle with his foot for whole hours 
together. 

In addition to his other vocations, he was the singing-master iso 
of the neighborhood, and picked up many bright shillings by 
instructing the young folks in psalmody. It was a matter of no 
little vanity to him, on Sundays, to take his station in front of 
the church gallery, with a band of chosen singers ; where, in 
his own ^ind, he completely carried away the palm from the iss 
parson. 'Certain it is, his voice resounded far above all the rest 
of the congregation ; and there are peculiar quavers still to be 
heard in that church, and which may even be heard half a mile 
off, quite to the opposite side of the mill-pond, on a stiU Sunday 
morning, which are said to be legitimately descended from the 190 
nose of Ichabod Crane. Thus, by divers little makeshifts, in 

174. Ingratiating (Lat. in, in, and gratia, favor), commending one's self 
to the favor of another ; insinuating. 

176. Whilom (A.-S. hwilum, sometime, at times), formerly, of old. The 
lion bold, etc. In the Neio England Primer there is a qneer illuminated 
alphabet ; each letter is the initial of the principal word in a rude couplet. 
A lion whose paw rests protectingly on a lamb, by the aid of the following 
lines points out the letter L : — 

" The Lion bold 
The Lamb doth hold." 

177. Magnanimously (Lat. magnus, great ; ani7niis, sonl ; -?y, like), like a 
great soal. 

180. Vopatio)is (Lat. vocare, to call), calling, trade, business, occupation. 

182. Psalmody, psalm-singing. 

185. Carried away the palm. Wreaths or branches of palm were worn 
in token of victory ; hence the word signifies victorj', triumph. The expres- 
sion here means that Ichabod surpassed the parson in importance and ex- 
cellence. 

187. Quavers, shakings or tremblings of the voice in singing. Their nasal 
character is forcibly described by the phrase " descended from the nose of 
Ichabod Crane " ! 



36 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

that ingenious way which is commonly denominated " by hook 
and by crook," the worthy pedagogue got on tolerably enough, 
and was thought, by aU who understood nothing of the labor 
of headwork, to have a wonderfully easy life of it, jg^ 

The schoolmaster is generally a man of some importance in 
the female circle of a rural neighborhood, being considered a kind 
of idle, gentlemanlike personage, of vastly superior taste and 
accomplishments to the rough country swains, and, indeed, in- 
ferior in learning only to the parson. His appearance, therefore, 200 
is apt to occasion some little stir at the tea-table of a farmhouse, 
and the addition of a supernumerary dish of cakes or sweetmeats, 
or, peradventure, the parade of a silver teapot. Our man of 
letters, therefore, was peculiarly happy in the smiles of all 
the country damsels. How he would figure among them in the ais 
churchyard, between services on Sundays ! gathering grapes for 
them from the wild vines that overran the surrounding trees ; 
reciting for their amusement all the epitaphs on the tombstones ; 
or sauntering, with a whole bevy of them, along the banks of 
the adjacent mill-pond ; while the more bashful country bump- 210 
kins hung sheepishly back, envying his superior elegance and 
address. 

From his half-itinerant life, also, he was a kind of travelling 
gazette, carrying the whole budget of local gossip from house to 



192. By hook and by crook, by any means direct or indirect. It is 
sometimes said that this proverb owes its origin to a place called the Crook 
in Waterford Harbor, Ireland, over against the tower of the Hook. It is safe 
to land on one side when the wind drives from the other. 

200. See Goldsmith's Deserted Village, where the parson and the school- 
master are the principal characters. 

202. Supernumerary (Lat. super, over ; nurnSrus, number), extra, in ad- 
dition to the usual or needful number. 

209. Sauntering, wandering about idly. Dr. Johnson derives the word 
from Sainte Terre (Fr.), the Holy Land, because in crusading times idle fel- 
lows, who loitered about asking charity, and who had no definite plans or 
work in view, or were unwilling to disclose them, would say they were going 
d la Sainte Terre. "The radical meaning \oi saunter'] would seem to be to 
trail or drag along." Wedgwood. Akin to Ger. schlentcm and schlendem, to 
wander idly about, to loiter. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 37 

house, so that his appearance was always greeted with satisfac- 213 
tion. He was, moreover, esteemed by the women as a man of 
great erudition, for he had read several books quite through, 
and was a perfect master of Cotton Mather's History of New 
England Witchcraft, in which, by the way, he most firmly 
and potently believed. 220 

He was, in fact, an odd mixture of small shrewdness and 
simple credulity. His appetite for the marvellous, and his 
powers of digesting it, were equally extraordinary; and both 
had been increased by his residence in this spellbound region. 
No tale was too gross or monstrous for his capacious swallow. 225 
It was often his delight, after his school was dismissed in the 
afternoon, to stretch himself on the rich bed of clover bordering 
the little brook that whimpered by his school-house, and there 
con over old Mather's direful tales, until the gathering dusk of 
the evening made the printed page a mere mist before his eyes. 230 
Then, as he wended his way by swamp and stream and awful 
woodland, to the farmhouse where he happened to be quartered, 
every sound of nature, at that witching ham, fluttered his r?<-^e'osLri 
excited imagination, — the moan of the whippoorwill* from 
the hillside, the boding cry of the tree-toad, that harbinger of 235 
storm, the dreary hooting of the screech-owl, or the sudden 
rustling in the thicket of birds frightened from their roost. 
The fireflies, too, which sparkled most vividly in the darkest 
places, now and then startled him, as one of uncommon bright- 

218. Cotton Mather, son of Increase Mather and grandson of John Cot- 
ton. He was born in Boston in 1663, was graduated at Harvard College 
in 1678, was ordained minister in Boston in 1684, and died in 1728. He has 
been blamed for his persecution of the supposed witches ; but he sincerely- 
believed he was serving God in " witch-hunting." He was a profound and 
industrious scholar. A contemporary declared that there were "hardly any 
books in existence with which Cotton Mather was not acquainted." His own 
publications number three hundred and eighty-two. 

235. Boding (A.-S. hod, command ; hoda, messenger ; hodian, to make an 
announcement : akin to hid), portending evil, menacing. 

* The whippoorwill is a bird which is only heard at night. It receives its 
name ixovn its note, which is thought to resemble those words. 



38 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

ness would stream across his path ; and if by chance a huge 240 
"blockhead of a beetle came winging his blundering flight against 
him, the poor varlet was ready to give up the ghost, with the 
idea that he was struck with a witch's token. His only re- 
source on such occasions, either to drown thought or drive away 245 
evil spirits, was to sing psalm-tunes ; and the good people of 
Sleepy Hollow, as they sat by their doors of an evening, were 
often filled with awe at hearing his nasal melody, " in linked 
sweetness long drawn out," floating from the distant hill or 
along the dusky road. 

Another of his sources of fearful pleasure was to pass long 250 
winter evenings with the old Dutch wives, as they sat spinning 
by the fire, with a row o-f apples roasting and spluttering along 
the hearth, and listen to their marvellous tales of ghosts and 
goblins, and haunted fields, and haunted brooks, and haunted 
bridges, and haunted houses, and particularly of the headless 255 
horseman, or Galloping Hessian of the Hollow, as they some- 
times called him. He would delight them equaUy by his 
anecdotes of witchcraft, and of the direful omens and porten- 
tous sights and sounds in the air, which prevailed in the earlier 
times of Connecticut ; and would frighten them wofully with 260 
speculations upon comets and shooting stars ; and with the 
alarming fact that the world did absolutely turn round, and 
that they were half the time topsy-turvy ! 

But if there was a pleasure in all this, while snugly cuddling 
in the chimney-corner of a chamber that was all of a ruddy glow 26s 
from the crackling wood-fire, and where, of course, no spectre 
dared to show its face, it was dearly purchased by the terrors of 
his subsequent walk homewards. "What fearful shapes and 
shadows beset his path amidst the dim and ghastly glare of 
a snowy night ! With what wistful look did he eye every 270 
trembling ray of light streaming across the waste fields from 
some distant window ! How often was he appalled by some 

247. Linked sweetness. See in Milton's D Allegro the line 

" Of linked sweetness long drawn out." 
263. Topsy-turvy (shortened from "top side t' other way"), upside down. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 39 

shrub covered with snow, which, like a sheeted spectre, beset 
his very path ! How often did he shrink with curdling awe 
at the sound of his own steps on the frosty crust beneath his 275 
feet, and dread to look over his shoulder, lest he should behold 
some uncouth being tramping close behind him ! and how often 
was he thrown into complete dismay by some rushing blast, 
howling among the trees, in the idea that it was the Galloping 
Hessian on one of his nightly scourings ! aso 

All these, however, were mere terrors of the night, phantoms 
of the mind that walk in darkness ; and though he had seen 
many spectres in his time, and been more than once beset by 
Satan in divers shapes, in his lonely perambulations, yet day- 
light put an end to all these evils ; and he would have passed 285 
a pleasant life of it, in despite of the devil and all his works, if 
his path had not been crossed by a being that causes more per- 
plexity to mortal man than ghosts, goblins, and the whole race 
of witches put together, and that was — a woman. 

Among the musical disciples who assembled one evening in 290 
each week to receive his instructions in psalmody, was Katrina 
Van Tassel, the daughter and only child of a substantial Dutch 
farmer. She was a blooming lass of fresh eighteen ; plump as 
a partridge, ripe and melting and rosy-cheeked as one of her 
father's peaches, and universally famed, not merely for her 205 
beauty, but her vast expectations. She was withal a httle of 
a coquette, as might be perceived even in her dress, which was 
a mixture of ancient and modern fashions, as most suited to set 
off her charms. She wore the ornaments of pure yellow gold 
which her great-great-grandmother had brought over from Saar- 300 
dam ; the tempting stomacher of the olden time, and withal a 



274. Curdling awe. Terror is poetically supposed to cliill and curdle the 
blood. 

284. Perambulations {per, through ; ambulare, to walk), walkings about, 
stroUings. 

300. Saardam, a town in Holland. 

301. Stomacher, the front body-piece of a lady's dress, being an orna- 
ment orsupport. Withal, along with the rest, likewise. 



40 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

provokingly short petticoat, to display the prettiest foot and 
ankle in the country round. 

Ichabod Crane had a soft and foolish heart towards the sex ; 
and it is not to be wondered at that so tempting a morsel soon 305 
found favor in his eyes, — more especially after he had visited 
her in her paternal mansion. Old Baltus Van Tassel was a 
perfect picture of a thriving, contented, liberal-hearted farmer. 
He seldom, it is true, sent either his eyes or his thoughts beyond 
the boundaries of his own farm ; but within those everything 310 
was snug, happy, and well-conditioned. He was satisfied with 
his wealth, but not proud of it ; and piqued himself upon the 
hearty abundance, rather than the style in which he lived. His 
stronghold was situated on the banks of the Hudson, in one 
of those green, sheltered, fertile nooks in which the Dutch 315 
farmers are so fond of nestling. A great elm-tree spread its 
broad branches over it, at the foot of which bubbled up a 
spring of the softest and sweetest water, in a little well formed 
of a barrel, and then stole sparkling away through the grass, to 
a neighboring brook, that bubbled along among alders and 320 
dwarf willows. Hard by the farmhouse was a vast barn, that 
might have served for a church, every window and crevice 
of which seemed bursting forth with the treasures of the farm ; 
the flail was busily resounding within it from morning to night; 
swallows and martins skimmed twittering about the eaves; and sa 
rows of pigeons, some with one eye turned up, as if watching 
the weather, some with their heads under their wings, or buried 
in their bosoms, and others, swelling, and cooing, and bowing 
about their dames, were enjoying the sunshine on the roof. 
Sleek unwieldy porkers were grunting in the repose and s* 
abundance of their pens, whence sallied forth, now and then, 
troops of sucking pigs, as if to snuff the air. A stately squad- 
ron of snowy geese were riding in an adjoining pond, convoy- 
ing whole fleets of ducks ; regiments of turkeys were gobbling 

312. Piqued, prided or valued. 

333. Convoying (Fr. convoyer, from Lat. con, with ; via, a way, route), 
accompanying for the purpose of protecting, as a war-ship convoys merchant- 
vessels. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 41 

through the farmyard, and guinea-fowls fretting about it, 33J 
like ill-tempered housewives, with their peevish, discontented 
cry. Before the barn-door strutted the gallant cock, that pat- 
tern of a husband, a warrior, and a fine gentleman, clapping 
his burnished wings, and crowing in the pride and glad- 
ness of his heart, — sometimes tearing up the earth with his 340 
feet, and then generously calling his ever-hungry family of 
wives and children to enjoy the rich morsel which he had dis- 
covered. 

The pedagogue's mouth watered as he looked upon his sump- 
, tuous promise of luxurious winter fare. In his devouring 3« 
y mind's eye he pictured to himself every roasting-pig running 
about with a pudding in his belly, and an apple in his mouth ; 
the pigeons were snugly put to bed in a comfortable pie, and 
tucked in with a coverlet of crust ; the geese were swimming 
in their own gravy, and the ducks pairing cosily in dishes, like 350 
snug married couples, with a decent competency of onion 
sauce. In the porkers he saw carved out the future sleek side 
of bacon and juicy relishing ham ; not a turkey but he beheld 
daintily trussed up, with its gizzard under its wing, and, per- 
adventure, a necklace of savory sausages; and even bright 355 
chanticleer himself lay sprawling on his back in a side-dish, 
with uplifted claws, as if craving that quarter which his chival- 
rous spirit disdained to ask while living. 

As the enraptured Ichabod fancied aU this, and as he rolled 
his great green eyes over the fat meadow-lands, the rich fields sco 
of wheat, of rye, of buckwheat and Indian corn, and the orchards 
burthened with ruddy fruit, which surrounded the warm tene- 
ment of Van Tassel, his heart yearned after the damsel who was 
to inherit these domains, and his imagination expanded with 
the idea, how they might be readily turned into cash, and the 365 

346. Mind's eye. "In my mind's eye, Horatio." Hamlet, Act. I. Sc. 2. 
So, in line 347, the expression " pudding in his belly " is from Shakespeare. 

Notice the description of the Van Tassel farm. Throughout the sketch the 
main idea we gain of the place is expressed by the words " hearty abun- 
dance," which are used to show the farmer's own idea of his homestead. 



42 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

money invested in immense tracts of wild laud, and shingle 
palaces in the wilderness. ]^ay, his busy fancy already realized 
his hopes, and presented to him the blooming Katrina, with a 
whole family of children, mounted on the top of a wagon 
loaded with household trumpery, witli pots and kettles dangling sro 
beneath ; and he beheld himself bestriding a pacing mare, with 
a colt at her heels, setting out for Kentucky, Tennessee, or the 
Lord knows where. 

When he entered the house the conquest of his heart was 
complete. It was one of those spacious farmhouses, with high- 375 
ridged, but lowly-sloping roofs, built in the style handed down 
from the first Dutch settlers ; the low projecting eaves forming 
a piazza along the front, capable of being closed up in bad 
weather. Under this were hung flails, harness, various utensils : 
of husbandry, and nets for fishing in the neighboring river, sw 
Benches were built along the sides for summer use ; and a great 
spinning-wheel at one end, and a churn at the other, showed 
the various uses to which this important porch might be de- 
voted. From this piazza the wandering Ichabod entered the 
hall, which formed the centre of the mansion and the place of sss 
usual residence. Here, rows of resplendent pewter, ranged on 
a long dresser, dazzled his eyes. In one corner stood a huge 
bag of wool ready to be spun ; in another a quantity of linsey- 
woolsey just from the loom; ears of Indian corn, and strings 

372. Setting out for Kentucky, etc. When this sketch was wiitten, be- 
fore the days of railroads, these States were thought to he at a very great dis- 
tance from New York. Ichabod plans to make the journey in an emigrant 
wagon. He is a striking contrast to the people of Sleepy Hollow, and would 
never stay long in one place. It is not hard to decide which has the greater 
charm for him, Katrina or the property to which she is the heiress. 

382. Spinning-wheel. The old-fashioned spinning-wheel, which once 
graced every farmhouse, and supplied the thread for the homespun garments, 
was a large wheel worked by a treadle. It gave swift motion to a spindle on 
whicli the thread or yarn was wound. 

387. Dresser, a table or bench on which meat and other viands are dressed 
or prepared for use ; and on which things are arranged or placed, as here the 
vessels or dishes made of pewter. 

388. Linsey-woolsey, coarse cloth made of linen and wool. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 43 

of dried apples and peaches, hung in gay festoons along the 390 
wall, mingled with the gaud of red peppers ; and a door left 
ajar gave him a peep into the best parlor, where the claw-footed 
chairs and dark mahogany tables shone like mirrors ; andirons, 
with their accompanying shovel and tongs, glistened from their 
covert of asparagus tops ; mock oranges and conch-shells dec- 395 
orated the mantel-piece ; strings of various-colored bird's-eggs 
were suspended above it ; a great ostrich egg was hung from 
the centre of the room, and a corner cupboard, knowingly left 
open, displayed immense treasures of old silver and weU-mended 
china. 400 

From the moment Ichabod laid his eyes upon these regions 

of delight, the peace of his mind was at an end, and his only 

study was how to gain the affections of the peerless daughter 

. of Van Tassel. In this enterprise, however, he had more real 

A'difficulties than generally feU to the lot of a knight-errant of *» 

vT^yore, who seldom had anything but giants, enchanters, fiery 

\ydragons, and such like easily conquered adversaries, to contend 

^ with ; and had to make his way merely through gates of iron 

and brass, and walls of adamant, to the castle keep, where the 

lady of his heart was confined, — all which he achieved as 410 

easily as a man would carve his way to the centre of a Christ- 

390. Festoons (Fr. feston ; Ital. festone, a great wreath, garland, or 
chaplet of lioiighs, leaves, or flowers on church doors at feasts ; from Lat. 
festa, pi. oi festum, festus dies, a holiday), wreaths hanging in dependent 
curves. 

393. Andirons, brand or fire irons, upon which wood is laid in a fireplace. 

395. Covert of asparagus tops. In summer the fireplace is often filled 
with asparagus tops. Mock oranges. Probably the author means orange 
gourds. They are shaped like oranges, yellow, white, or variegated in color, 
and are used for ornament. 

405. Knight-errant (plural, knights-errant. From A.-S. cnight, boy, ser- 
vant ; Ger. knecht ; Eng. knight, a fighting man, a soldier who fought on 
horseback in armor ; errant, wandering, from Lat. errare, to wander), a 
wandering knight. He travelled in search of adventures, for the purpose of 
exhibiting military skill, prowess, and generosity. 

409. Castle keep, the donjon of ancient castles, the stronghold to which 
the besieged inmates retired in cases of danger, and there made their last de- 
fence ; also \ised as a prison for captives. 



44 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

mas pie ; and then the lady gave him her hand as a matter of 
course. Ichabod, on the contrary, had to win his way to the 
heart of a country coquette, beset with a labyrinth of whims 
and caprices, which were forever presenting new difficulties and 415 
impediments ; and he had to encounter a host of fearful adver- 
saries of real flesh and blood, the numerous rustic admirers who 
beset every portal to her heart, keeping a watchful and angry 
eye upon each other, but ready to fly out in the common cause 
against any new competitor. *» 

Among these the most formidable was a burly, roaring, rois- 
tering blade, of the name of Abraham, or, according to the 
Dutch abbreviation, Brom Van Brunt, the hero of the country 
round, which rang with his feats of strength and hardihood. 
He was broad-shouldered and double-jointed, with short, curly 425 
black hair, and a bluff but not unpleasant countenance, having 
a mingled air of fun and arrogance. From his herculean frame 
and great powers of limb, he had received the nickname of 
Brom Bones, by which he was universally known. He was 
famed for great knowledge and skill in horsemanship, being as 430 
dexterous on horseback as a Tartar. He was foremost at all 
races and cock-fights ; and, with the ascendency which bodily 
strength acquires in rustic life, was the umpire in all disputes, 
setting his hat on one side, and giving his decisions with an air 
and tone admitting of no gainsay or appeal. He was always 435 
ready for either a tight or a frolic, but had more mischief than 

414. Labyrinth (Lat. labyrinthus), a building or place full of intricate 
ways or winding passages, out of which it is difficult to find one's way. 

427. Herculean, having the size and strength of Hercules, powerful. Her- 
cules is perhaps the greatest hero in Greek mythology. He was famous for 
his great strength and the incredible feats he performed, generally called "the 
twelve labors of Hercules." 

431. Tartar, an inhabitant of Tartary, a country formerly occupying nearly 
all the great central belt of Asia from the Caspian Sea eastward. The Tartars 
were noted for their skill in horsemanship. 

433. Tlmpire (Old Fr. nompair, uneven, odd; from Lat. non, par, not 
equal, not even : an umjiire being chosen by two, four, or other even number, 
to give his casting vote and so make a majority one way or the other), a third 
party to whom a dispute or disagreement is referred for settlement. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 45 

ill-will in his composition ; and, Avith all his overbearing rough- 
ness, there was a strong dash of waggish good-humor at bottom. 
He had three or four boon companions, who regarded him as 
their model, and at the head of whom he scoured the country, «o 
attending every scene of feud or merriment for miles round. 
In cold weather he was distinguished by a fur cap, surmounted 
with a flaunting fox's tail ; and when the folks at a country 
gathering descried this well-known crest at a distance, whisking 
about among a squad of hard riders, they always stood by for 445 
a squall. Sometimes his crew would be heard dashing along 
past the farmhouses at midnight, with whoop and halloo, like 
a troop of Don Cossacks ; and the old dames, startled out of 
their sleep, would listen for a moment till the hurry-scurry had 
clattered by, and then exclaim, " Aye, there goes Brom Bones 450 
and his gang ! " The neighbors looked upon him with a mix- 
ture of awe, admiration, and good-will ; and when any madcap 
prank or rustic brawl occurred in the vicinity, always shook 
their heads, and warranted Brom Bones was at the bottom of it. 

This rantipole hero had for some time singled out the bloom- 455 
ing Katrina for the object of his uncouth gallantries ; and 
though his amorous toyings were something like the gentle 
caresses and eiidearments of a bear, yet it was whispered that 
she did not altogether discourage his hopes. Certain it is his 
advances were signals for rival candidates to retire, who felt no 46o 
inclination to cross a lion in his amours ; insomuch that, when 
his horse was seen tied to Van Tassel's paling on a Sunday 
night, a sure sign that his master was courting, or, as it is 
termed, " sparking," within, all other suitors passed by in de- 
spair, and carried the war into other quarters. 466 

439. Boon (Fr. bon ; Lat. bonus, good), gay, merry, jovial. 

443. Flaunting. See note on flaunted, p. 4. 

448. Don Cossacks, Cossacks of the river Don. The Cossacks are very 
skilful horsemen, almost always on horseback, and happy when scoiiring the 
open lields. 

455. Bantipole {to rant is to rave, swagger, make a great noise or up- 
roar. The pole is said to mean in this word the plank used in the game of 
see-saw), harum-scarum. 



46 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

tWSuoll fas the formidable rival with whom Ichabod Crane 
had to contend, and, considering all things, a stouter man than 
he would have shrunk from the competition, and a wiser man 
would have despaired. He had, however, a happy mixture of 
pliability and perseverance in his nature : he was in form and 470 
spirit like a supiple-jack, — yielding, but tough ; though he bent, 
he never broke ; and though he bowed beneath the slightest 
pressure, yet, the moment it was away — jerk ! he was as erect, 
and carried his head as high as ever. 

To have taken the field openly against his rival would have 475 
been madness ; for he was not a man to be thwarted in his 
amours, any more than that stormy lover, Achilles. Ichabod, 
therefore, made his advances in a quiet and gently insinuating 
manner. Under cover of his character of singing-master, he 
made frequent visits at the farmhouse ; not that he had any- *8o 
thing to apprehend from the meddlesome interference of parents, 
which is so often a stumbling-block in the path of lovers. Bait 
Van Tassel was an easy, indulgent soul ; he loved his daughter 
better even than his pipe, and, like a reasonable man and an 
excellent father, let her have her way in everything. His 486 
notable little wife, too, had enough to do to attend to her 
housekeeping and manage her poultry ; for, as she sagely ob- 
served, ducks and geese are foolish things, and must be looked 
after, but girls can take care of themselves. Thus, while the 
busy dame bustled about the house, or plied her spinning-wheel 490 
at one end of the piazza, honest Bait would sit smoking his 
evening pipe at the other, watching the achievements of a little 
wooden warrior, who, armed with a sword in each hand, was 
most valiantly fighting the wind on the pinnacle of the barn. 
In the mean time Ichabod would carry on his suit with the 495 

471. Supple-jack, the common name of a vine wliich grows in Virginia and 
farther south. Walking-sticks, called supple-jack canes, are made of it. 
Supple is from Fr. souph, limber, apparently from Lat. supplicare, to bend 
the knee ; possibly from Gaelic subailt, mpail, flexible, supple. 

477. Achilles, the bravest of the Greek warriors at the siege of Troy, and 
distinguished for his heroic actions. See Homer's Iliad, Book I. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 47 

daughter by the side of the spring under the great elp||> or* 
sauntering along in the twilight, that hour so favorable to the 
lover's eloquence. 

I profess not to know how women's hearts are wooed and won. 
To me they have always been matters of riddle and admiration, soo 
Some seem to have but one vulnerable point, or door of access ; 
while others have a thousand avenues, and may be captured in 
a thousand different ways. It is a great triumph of skill to gain 
the former, but a still greater proof of generalship to maintain 
possession of the latter ; for a man must battle for his fortress 505 
at every door and window. He who wins a thousand common 
hearts is therefore entitled to some renown ; but he who keeps 
undisputed sway over the heart of a coquette is indeed a hero. 
Certain it is this was not the case with the redoubtable Brom 
Bones ; and from the moment Ichabod Crane made his advances, no 
the interests of the former evidently declined : his horse was no 
longer seen tied at the palings on Sunday nights, and a deadly 
feud gradually arose between him and the preceptor of Sleepy 
HoUow. 

Brom, who had a degree of rough chivalry in his nature, J15 
would fain have carried matters to open warfare, and have settled 
their pretensions to the lady according to the mode of those 
most concise and simple reasoners, the knights-errant of yore, — 
by single combat ; but Ichabod was too conscious of the superior 
might of his adversary to enter the lists against him ; he had s2o 
overheard a boast of Bones that he would " double the school- 
master up, and lay him on a shelf of his own school-house " ; 
and he was too wary to give him an opportunity. There was 
something extremely provoking in this obstinately pacific sys- 
tem ; it left Brom no alternative but to draw upon the funds 525 
of rustic waggery in his disposition, and to play off boorish 
practical jokes upon his rival. Ichabod became the object of 

501. Vulnerable (Lat. vulnus, a wound), capable of being wounded. 
509. Redoubtable (Fr. redouter, to dread), formidable. The word is often 
used, as here, with slight contempt or in burlesque. 
513. Preceptor (Lat. prcecipio, to instruct), a teacher, instructor. 



48 ' THE SKETCH-BOOK. 



1 



Whinljcal persecution to Bones and Hs gang of rough-riders. 
They harried his hitherto peaceful domains, smoked out his 
singing-school by stopping up the chimney, broke into the sso 
school-house at night, in spite of its formidable fastenings of 
withe and window-stakes, and turned everything topsy-turvy, 
so that the poor schoolmaster began to think all the witches in 
the country held their meetings there. But what was still more 
annoying, Brom took all opportunities of turning him into ridi-/53»- 
cule in presence of his mistress, and had a scoundrel dog whanx-^ 
he taught to whine in the most ludicrous manner, and intro- 
duced as a rival of Ichabod's to instruct her in psalmody. 

In this way matters went on for some time, without producing 
any material effect on the relative situation of the contending 540 
powers. On a fine autumnal afternoon, Ichabod, in pensive 
mood, sat enthroned on the lofty stool whence he usually watched 
all the concerns of his little literary realm. In his hand he 
swayed a ferule, that sceptre of despotic power ; the birch of 
justice reposed on three nails beliind the throne, a constant terror 545 
to evil-doers ; while on the desk before him might be seen sun- 
dry contraband articles and prohibited weapons, detected upon 
the persons of idle urchins, such as half-munched apples, pop- 
guns, whirligigs, fly-cages, and whole legions of rampant little 
paper game-cocks. Apparently there had been some appalling 550 
act of justice recently inflicted, for his scholars were all busily 
intent upon their books, or slyly whispering behind them with 
one eye kept upon the master, and a kind of buzzing stillness 
reigned throughout the school-room. It was suddenly inter- 
rupted by the appearance of a negro, in tow-cloth jacket and 555 
trousers, a round-crowned fragment of a hat, like the cap of 
Mercury, and mounted on the back of a ragged, wild, half-broken 

529. Harried (Fr. harrier, to molest, vex ; harer, to set on a dog to attack; 
some deduce it from A.-S. hergian, to pillage), harassed, vexed. 

536. Dog whom. Is this a correct use of the relative pronoun ? 

547. Contraband (Ital. contrahbando, goods prohibited by law ; from Lat. 
contra, against, and Low Lat. bannum, an edict), forbidden. 

557. Mercury, the messenger of the gods, usually employed on Jupiter's 
errands. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 49 

colt, which he managed with a rope by way of halter. He came 
clattering up to the school door, with an invitation to Ichabod 
to attend a merry-making, or " quilting frolic," to be held that sm 
evening at Mynheer Van Tassel's ; and having delivered his 
message with that air of importance and effort at fine language 
which a negro is apt to display on petty embassies of the kind, 
he dashed over the brook, and was seen scampering away up the 
Hollow, full of the importance and hurry of his mission. scs 

All was now bustle and hubbub in the late quiet school-room. 
The scholars were hurried through their lessons without stopping 
at trifles ; those who were nimble skipped over half with im- 
punity, and those who were tardy had a smart apjDlication now 
and then in the rear, to quicken their speed or help them over 570 
a tall word. Books were flung aside without being put away 
on the shelves ; inkstands were overturned, benches thrown 
down, and the whole school was turned loose an hour before the 
usual time, bursting forth like a legion of young imps, yelping 
and racketing about the green in joy at their early emancipa- 575 
tion. 

The gallant Ichabod now spent at least an extra half-hour at 
his toilet, brushing and furbishing up his best, and, indeed, only 
suit of rusty black, and arranging his locks by a bit of broken 
looking-glass that hung up in the school-house. That he might sso 
make his appearance before his mistress in the true style of a 
cavalier, he borrowed a horse from the farmer with whom he 

560. Quilting frolic or quilting-bee. A quilt was commonly made of 
small pieces of calico sewed together witli some order and regularity. It was 
lined, and perhaps had a thin layer of cotton between the two surfaces, and 
was then stretched smooth on a frame. It was next to be quilted. Tliis im- 
portant operation was performed by a company of women invited for the pur- 
pose. Tea followed, and dancing, with games : other amusements closed the 
entertainment. "Now were instituted 'quilting-bees,' and 'husking-bees,' 
and other rural assemblages, where, under the inspiring influence of the fiddle, 
toil was enlivened by gayety and followed up by the dance." History of 
New York, Book VII. Chap. 2. 

563. Embassies, ofiicial missions, diplomatic sendings. 

5S2. Cavalier (Fr. chevalier, a horseman, ivom. cheval, a horse ; Lat. cabal- 
lus, a nag, packhorse), a horse-soldier, armed horseman, knight. 



50 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

was domiciliated, a choleric old Dutchmein of the name of Hans 
Van Eipper, and, thus gallantly mounted, issued forth like a 
knight-errant in quest of adventures. But it is meet I should, sss 
in the true spirit of romantic story, give some account of the 
looks and equipments of my hero and his steed. The animal 
he hestrode was a broken-down plough-horse, that had outlived 
almost everything but his viciousness. He was gaunt and 
shagged, with a ewe neck, and a head like a hammer ; his rusty sao 
mane and tail were tangled and knotted with burrs ; one eye 
had lost its pupil, and was glaring and spectral ; but the other 
had the gleam of a genuine devil in it. Still he must have had 
fire and mettle in his day, if we may judge from the name he 
bore of Gunpowder. He had, in fact, been a favorite steed of S9s 
his master's, the choleric Van Eipper, who was a furious rider, 
and had infused, very probably, some of his own spirit into the 
animal ; for, old and broken down as he looked, there was more 
of the lurking devO. in him than in any young fiUy in the 
country. eoo 

Ichabod was a suitable figure for such a steed. He rode with 
short stirrups, which brought his knees nearly up to the pom- 
mel of the saddle; his sharp elbows stuck out like grasshoppers'; 
he carried his whip perpendicularly in his hand, like a sceptre, 
and, as his horse jogged on, the motion of his arms was not cos 
unlike the flapping of a pair of wings. A small wool hat rested 
on the top of his nose, for so his scanty strip of forehead might 
be called ; and the skirts of his black coat fluttered out almost 
to the horse's tail. Such was the appearance of Ichabod and 
his steed, as they shambled out of the gate of Hans Van Ripper, eio 
and it was altogether such an apparition as is seldom to be met 
with in broad daylight. 

It was, as I have said, a fine autumnal day ; the sky was 

583. Choleric (Gr. xok-f), bile), easily angered, irascible, prone to fits of 
anger. Domiciliated, settled in a domicil or house of abode. 

599. Filly (a diminutive iromfoal), a mare under three years old. 

613, etc. The paragraphs of description, beginning "It was, as I have said, 
a fine autumnal day," present an autumn scene with great vividness, accu- 
racy, and beauty ; the brilliant trees, the birds, the abundant harvest, sun- 
set on the still Hudson. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 51 

clear and serene, and nature wore that rich and golden livery 
which we always associate with the idea of abundance. The sis 
forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some 
trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into 
brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet. Streaming files 
of wild ducks began to make their appearance high in the air ; 
the bark of the squirrel might be heard from the groves of 620 
beech and hickory nuts, and the pensive whistle of the quail at 
intervals from the neighboring stubble-field. 

The small birds were taking their farewell banquets. In the 
fulness of their revelry they fluttered, chirping^ and frolicking, 
from bush to bush and tree to tree, capricious from the very 625 
profusion and variety around them. There was the honest 
cock-robin, the favorite game of stripling sportsmen, with its 
loud, querulous note ; and the twittering blackbirds flying in 
sable clouds ; and the golden-winged woodpecker, with his 
crimson crest, his broad black gorget, and splendid plumage ; eso 
and the cedar-bird, with its red-tipped wings and yellow-tipped 
tail, and its little monteiro cap of feathers ; and the blue jay, 
that noisy coxcomb, in his gay ligit-blue coat and white under- 
clothes, screaming and chattering, nodding and bobbing and 
bowing, and pretending to be on good terms with every songster ^ 
of the grove. 

As Ichabod jogged slowly on his way, his eye, ever open to 
every symptom of culinary abundance, ranged with delight 
over the treasures of jolly autumn. On all sides he beheld 
vast stores of apples, some hanging in oppressive opulence on m 
the trees, some gathered into baskets and barrels for the mar- 
ket, others heaped up in rich piles for the cider-press. Farther 
on he beheld great fields of Indian corn, with its golden ears 
peeping from their leafy coverts, and holding out the promise 
of cakes and hasty-pudding; and the yellow pumpkins lying be- m 
neath them, turning up their fair round bellies to the sun, and 

632. Monteiro. Meaning? 

638. Culinary (Lat. culina, a kitchen, food), relating to the kitchen or to 
the art of cookery ; used in the kitchen. 



52 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

giving ample prospects of the most luxurious of pies ; and anon 
lie passed the fragrant buckwheat-fields, breathing the odor of 
the beehive, and as he beheld them, soft anticipations stole 
over his mind of dainty slap-jacks, well buttered, and garnished ^'^ 
with honey or treacle, by the delicate little dimpled hand of 
Katrina Van Tassel. 

Thus feeding his mind with many sweet thoughts and " su- 
gared suppositions," he journeyed along the sides of a range of 
hills which look out upon some of the goodliest scenes of the sm 
mighty Hudson, The sun gradually wheeled his broad disk 
down into the west. The wide bosom of the Tappan Zee lay 
motionless and glassy, except that here and there a gentle 
undulation waved and prolonged the blue shadow of the dis- 
tant mountain. A few amber clouds floated in the sky, with- eeo 
out a breath of air to move them. The horizon was of a fine 
golden tint, changing gradually into a pure apple green, and 
from that into the deep blue of the mid-heaven. A slanting 
ray lingered on the woody crests of the precipices that over- 
hung some parts of the river, giving greater depth to the dark- ees 
gray and purple of their rocky sides. A sloop was loitering 
in the distance, dropping slowly down with the tide, her sail 
hanging uselessly against the mast ; and as the reflection of the 
sky gleamed along the still water, it seemed as if the vessel was 
suspended in the air. . m 

It was toward evening that Ichabod arrived at the castle of 
the Herr Van Tassel, which he found thronged with the pride 
and flower of the adjacent country : old farmers, a spare, 
leathern-faced race, in homespun coats and breeches, blue 
stockings, huge shoes, and magnificent pewter buckles ; their era 
brisk withered little dames, in close crimped caps, long-waisted 

651. Treacle (" From the old confection called triacle, which was supposed 
to be a sovereign remedy against poison, and was named from Middle Greek 
tlierion, a viper, either because it was good against the bite of vipers, or be- 
cause it was supposed to be made of viper's flesh." Wedgwood), sugar spume, 
sugar syrup, molasses. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 53 

short gowns, homespun petticoats, with scissors and pincushions, 
and gay calico pockets hanging on the outside ; buxom lasses, 
almost as antiquated as their mothers, excepting where a straw 
hat, a fine ribband, or perhaps a white frock, gave symptoms of gso 
city innovation ; the sons, in short square-skirted coats with 
rows of stupendous brass buttons, and their hair generally 
queued in the fashion of the times, especially if they could 
procure an eel-skin for the purpose, it being esteemed through- 
out the country as a potent nourisher and strengthener of the ess 
hair. 

Brom Bones, however, was the hero of the scene, having 
come to the gathering on his favorite steed Daredevil, a crea- 
ture, like himself, full of mettle and mischief, and which no 
one but himself could manage. He was, in fact, noted for ego 
preferring vicious animals, given to all kinds of tricks, which 
kept the rider in constant risk of his neck ; for he held a 
tractable, well-broken horse as unworthy of a lad of spirit. 

Fain would I pause to dwell upon the world of charms that 
burst upon the enraptured gaze of my hero as he entered the eos 
state parlor of Van Tassel's mansion, — not those of the bevy of 
buxom lasses, with their luxurious display of red and white, 
but the ample charms of a genuine Dutch country tea-table, in 
the sumptuous time of autumn. Such heaped-up platters of 
cakes of various and almost indescribable kinds, known only 700 
to experienced Dutch housewives ! There was the doughty 
doughnut, the tenderer oly koek, and the crisp and crumbling 
cruller ; sweet-cakes and short-cakes, ginger-cakes and honey- 
cakes, and the whole family of cakes. And then there were 
apple-pies and peach-pies and pumpkin-pies ; besides slices of ros 

677. With scissors and pincnsMons, and gay oalioo pockets, etc. See 
History of New Yoi-k, Book III. Chap. 4. 

683. Queued (Fr. queue, a tail ; Lat. cauda, tail), twisted or braided into 
a tail or pendant. 

696. Bevy (Fr. bevee, a flock of qiiails, larks, etc.), a company (of ladies or 
girls). 

702. Oly koek (Dutch oliekoek, oil-cake), a cake fried in lard. There are 
many kinds, as crullers, doughnuts, etc. 



54 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

ham and smoked beef ; and, moreover, delectable dishes of pre- 
served plums and peaches and pears and quinces, not to men- 
tion broiled shad and roasted chickens, together with bowls of 
milk and cream, all mingled higgledy-piggledy, pretty much as 
I have enumerated them, with the motherly teapot sending up no 
its clouds of vapor from the midst — Heaven bless the mark ! 
I want breath and time to discuss this banquet as it deserves, 
and am too eager to get on with my story. Happily, Ichabod 
Crane was not in so great a hurry as his historian, but did 
ample justice to every dainty. 715 

He was a kind and thankful creature, whose heart dilated in 
proportion as his skin was filled with good cheer, and whose 
spirits rose with eating as some men's do with drink. He could 
not help, too, rolKng his large eyes round him as he ate, and 
chuckling with the possibility that he might one day be lord 720 
of all this scene of almost unimaginable luxury and splendor. 
Then he thought how soon he 'd turn his back upon the old 
school-house, snap his fingers in the face of Hans Van Ripper 
and every other niggardly patron, and kick any itinerant peda- 
gogue out of doors that should dare to call him comrade. 725 

Old Baltus Van Tassel moved about among his guests with 
a face dilated with content and good-humor, round and jolly as 
the harvest moon. His hospitable attentions were brief, but 
expressive, being confined to a shake of the hand, a slap on the 
shoulder, a loud laugh, and a pressing invitation to " fall to, 730 
and help themselves." 

- And now the sound of the music from the common room 
or hall summoned to the dance. The musician was an old 
gray-headed negro, who had been the itinerant orchestra of the 
neighborhood for more than half a century. His instrument 735 



709. Higgledy-piggledy, in confusion. 

724. Niggardly ("The habit of attention to minute gains in earning 
money is closely connected with a careful unwillingness to spend, and the 
primary meaning of niggard is one who scrapes up money by little and 
little." Wedgwood), stingy. Itinerant (Lat. iter, itineris, journey), travel- 
ling, in the habit of joiimeying from place to place. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 55 

was as old and battered as himself. The greater part of the 
time he scraped on two or three strings, accomiDanying every 
movement of the bow with amotion of the head, bowing almost 
to the ground and stamping with his foot whenever a fresh 
couple were to start. 740 

Ichabod prided himself upon his dancing as much as upon his 
vocal powers. I^ot a limb, not a fibre about him was idle ; and 
to have seen his loosely hung frame in full motion, and clattering 
about the room, you would have thought St. Vitus himself, that 
blessed patron of the dance, was figuring before you in person'. 745 
He was the admiration of all the negroes, who, having gathered, 
of all ages and sizes, from the farm and the neighborhood, stood 
forming a pyramid of shining black faces at every door and 
window, gazing with delight at the scene, rolling their white 
eyeballs, and showing grinning rows of ivory from ear to ear. 750 
How could the flogger of urchins be otherwise than animated 
and joyous ] The lady of his heart was his partner in the 
dance, and smiling graciously in reply to aU his amorous 
oglings ; while Brom Bones, sorely smitten with love and jeal- 
ousy, sat brooding by himself in one corner. 755 

When the dance was at an end, Ichabod was attracted to a 
knot of the sager folks, who, with old Van Tassel, sat smoking 
at one end of the piazza, gossiping over former times, and draw- 
ing out long stories about the war. 

This neighborhood, at the time of which I am speaking, was 76o 
one of those highly favored places which abound with chronicle 
and great men. The British and American line had run near 

744. St. Vitus. He is said to have been the son of a noble Sicilian, and to 
have been secretly brought up in the Christian faith by his nurse. It is 
related that his father beat and imprisoned him, to force him to renounce 
his religion, but that, while in the dungeon, his father looked through the 
keyhole and saw him dancing with seven beautiful angels. He is sometimes 
assumed to be the patron saint of dancers and actors, and is invoked against 
the nervous disease, St. Vitus' dance. 

751. Flo|^ger of urchins. Ichabod has various names and epithets, — " the 
flogger of urchins," "a worthy wight," "a Imge feeder," "worthy peda- 
gogue," "the enraptured Icliabod," "a kind and thankful creature," etc. Is 
there any special appropriateness in each ? 



56 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

it during the war ; it had, therefore, been the scene of marauding, 
and infested with refugees, cow-boys, and all kinds of border 
chivalry. Just sufficient time had elapsed to enable each story- 765 
teller to dress up his tale with a little becoming fiction, and, in 
the indistinctness of his recollection, to make himself the hero 
of every exploit. 

There was the story of Doffue Martling, a large blue-bearded 
Dutchman, who had nearly taken a British frigate with an old rro 
iron nine-pounder from a mud breastwork, oidy that his gun 
burst at the sixth discharge. And there was an old gentleman 
who shall be nameless, being too rich a mynheer to be lightly 
mentioned, who, in the battle of White Plains, being an excellent 
master of defence, parried a musket-ball with a small-sword, 775 
insomuch that he absolutely felt it whiz round the blade, and 
glance off at the hilt : in proof of which he was ready at any 
time to show the sword, with the hilt a little bent. There were 
several more that had been equally great in the field, not one of 
whom but was persuaded that he had a considerable hand in 78o 
bringing the war to a happy termination. 

But all these were nothing to the tales of ghosts and appari- 
tions that succeeded. The neighborhood is rich in legendary 
treasures of the kind. Local tales and superstitions thrive best 
in these sheltered long-settled retreats ; but are trampled under rss 
foot by the shifting throng that forms the population of most 
of our country places. Besides, there is no encouragement for 
ghosts in most of our villages, for they have scarcely had time 
to finish their first nap, and turn themselves in their graves, 
before their surviving friends have travelled away from the 790 
neighborhood ; so that when they turn out at night to walk 

764. Cow-boys, a band of plunderers in the time of the American Revo- 
lution. They infested the "neutral gi-ound " lying between the American 
and British lines, and robbed all those who had taken the oath of allegiance 
to the Continental Congress. 

773. Mynheer (Ger. mein, my; herr, sir, lord). A Dutch word meaning 
Sir, Mr., or my lord ; in English use, a Dutchman. 

774. "White Plains. An indecisive engagement between the Americans 
and British took place here, October 28, 1776. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 57 

their rounds, they have no acquaintance left to call upon. This 
is perhaps the reason why we so seldom hear of ghosts, except 
in our long-established Dutch communities. 

The immediate cause, however, of the prevalence of super- ras 
natural stories in these parts, was doubtless owing to the vicin- 
ity of Sleepy Hollow. There was a contagion in the very air 
that blew from that haunted region ; it breathed forth an atmos- 
phere of dreams and fancies infecting all the land. Several of 
the Sleepy Hollow people were present at Van Tassel's, and, £oo 
as usual, were doling out their wild and wonderful legends. 
ISIany dismal tales were told about funeral trains, and mourning 
cries and wailings heard and seen about the great tree where 
the unfortunate Major Andre was taken, and which stood in 
the neighborhood. Some mention was made also of the woman sos 
in white that haunted the dark glen at Eaven Rock, and was 
often heard to shriek on winter nights before a storm, having 
perished there in the snow. The chief part of the stories, how- 
ever, turned upon the favorite spectre of Sleepy Hollow, the 
headless horseman, who had been heard several times of late, sio 
patrolling the country ; and, it was said, tethered his horse 
nightly among the graves in the churchyard. 

The sequestered situation of this church seems always to 
have made it a favorite haunt of troubled spirits. It stands on 
a knoll surrounded by locust-trees and lofty elms, from among gis 
which its decent whitewashed walls shine modestly forth, like 
Christian purity beaming through the shades of retirement. A 
gentle slope descends from it to a silver sheet of water, bordered 
by high trees, between which peeps may be caught at the blue 
hills of the Hudson. To look upon its grass-grown yard, where 820 

804. Major Andr^. John Andre, the British agent in the affairs of Arnold's 
treason, was captured September 23, 1780, by three niilitia-meu, who refused 
the large bribes he offered for his release, and delivered him xip to the mili- 
tary authorities. He was hanged as a spy, and his body was buried under 
the gallows at Tappan, near the Hudson River ; but in 1821 his remains were 
delivered to the English, on petition of the Duke of York, and were placed 
in a grave near a monument erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey. 

813. Sequestered (Lat. sequestrare, to seclude), secluded. 



58 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

the sunbeams seem to sleep so quietly, oue would think that 
there at least the dead might rest in peace. On one side of the 
church extends a wide woody dell, along which raves a large 
brook among broken rocks and trunks of fallen trees. Over a 
deep black part of the stream, not far from the church, was szs 
formerly thrown a wooden bridge ; the road that led to it, and 
the bridge itself, were thickly shaded by overhanging trees, 
which cast a gloom about it, even in the daytime, but occasioned 
a fearful darkness at night. Such was one of the favorite haunts 
of the headless horseman, and the place where he was most fre- sao 
quently encountered. The tale was told of old Brouwer, a most 
heretical disbeliever in ghosts, how he met the horseman re- 
turning from his foray into Sleepy Hollow, and was obliged to 
get up behind him ; how they galloped over bush and brake, 
over hill and swamp, until they reached the bridge ; when the gss 
horseman suddenly turned into a skeleton, threw old Brouwer 
into the brook, and sprang away over the tree-tops with a clap 
of thunder. 

This story was immediately matched by a thrice marvellous 
adventure of Brom Bones, who made light of the Galloping aw 
Hessian as an arrant jockey. He affirmed that, on returning 
one night from the neighboring village of Sing-Sing, he had 
been overtaken by this midnight trooper ; that he had offered 
to race with him for a bowl of punch, and should have won it 
too, for Daredevil beat the goblin horse all hollow, but, just as 845 
they came to the church bridge, the Hessian bolted, and van- 
ished in a flash of fire. 

All these tales, told in that drowsy undertone with which 
men talk in the dark, the countenances of the Ksteners only 
now and then receiving a casual gleam from the glare of a pipe, sm 
sank deep in the mind of Ichabod. He repaid them in kind 
with large extracts from his invaluable author, Cotton Mather, 

833. Foray (Lat. foris, externally, beyond boundaries ? or French four- 
rager, to fodder, forage, ravage; Anglo-Sax. foder, food ?), a hostile military 
incursion, especially in border warfare. 

845. Beat the goblin horse all hollow. All hollow, meaning completely, 
is colloquial and inelegant. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 59 

and added many marvellous events that had taken place in his 
native State of Connecticut, and fearful sights which he had 
seen in his nightly walks about Sleepy Hollow. sss 

The revel now gradually broke up. The old farmers gathered 
together their families in their wagons, and were heard for 
some time rattling along the hollow roads and over the distant 
hills. Some of the damsels mounted on pillions behind their 
favorite swains, and their light-hearted laughter, mingling with seo 
the clatter of hoofs, echoed along the silent woodlands, sound- 
ing fainter and fainter until they gradually died away, — and 
the late scene of noise and frolic was all silent and deserted. 
Ichabod only lingered behind, according to the custom of coun- 
try lovers, to have a tete-a-tete with the heiress, fully convinced 865 
that he was now on the high road to success. What passed at 
this interview I will not pretend to say, for in fact I do not 
know. Something, however, I fear me, must have gone wrong, 
for he certainly sallied forth, after no very great interval, with 
an air quite desolate and chop-fallen. these women ! these 87o 
women ! Could that girl have been playing off any of her 
coquettish tricks 1 Was her encouragement of the poor peda- 
gogue all a mere sham to secure her conquest of his rival? 
Heaven only knows, not 1 ! Let it suffice to say, Ichabod 
stole forth with the air of one who had been sacking a hen- sis 
roost, rather than a fair lady's heart. Without looking to the 
right or left to notice the scene of rural wealth on which lie 
had so often gloated, he went straight to the stable, and with 
several hearty cuffs and kicks roused his steed most uncour- 
teously from the comfortable quarters in which he was soundly sso 
sleeping, dreaming of mountains of corn and oats, and whole 
valleys of timothy and clover. 

859. Pillions (Gaelic j?eaK, a coverlet, skin, or mat; pillean, a pad or pack- 
saddle). A pillion is a cushion for a woman to ride on behind anotlier person 
on the same horse. 

865. T6te-^-tete (from the rare Lat. testa, head, and meaning literally head 
to head), a face-to-face conference, a cosey interview, a familiar conversation. 

882. Timothy. The common name of herds-grass, said to be derived from 
one Timothy Hanson, who carried it to England from America about 1780. 



60 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

It was the very wMiing-time of night that Ichabod, heavy- I 
hearted and crest-faUen, pursued his travels homewards, along 1 
the sides of the lofty hills which rise above Tarry Town, and sss ■ 
which he had traversed so cheerily in the afternoon. The 
hour was as dismal as himself. Far below him the Tappan Zee 
spread its dusky and indistinct waste of Avaters, with here and 
there the tall mast of a sloop, riding quietly at anchor under 
the land. In the dead hush of midnight he could even hear m 
the barking of the watch-dog from the opposite shore of the 
Hudson ; but it was so vague and faint as only to give an idea 
of his distance from this faithful companion of man. Now 
and then, too, the long-drawn crowing of a cock, accidentally 
awakened, would sound far, far off, from some farmhouse away 895 
among the hills ; but it was like a dreaming sound in his ear. 
No signs of life occurred near him, but occasionally the melan- 
choly chirp of a cricket, or perhaps the guttural twang of a 
bull-frog from a neighboring marsh, as if sleeping uncomforta- 
bly, and turning suddenly in his bed, - ^^ 

All the stories of ghosts and goblins that he had heard in the 
afternoon now came crowding upon his recollection. The night 
grew darker and darker ; the stars seemed to sink deeper in 
the sky, and driving clouds occasionally hid them from his sight. 
He had never felt so lonely and dismal. He was, moreover, m 
approaching the very place where many of the scenes of the 
ghost-stories had been laid. In the centre of the road stood an 
enormous tulip-tree, which towered like a giant above all the 
other trees of the neighborhood, and formed a kind of land- 
mark. Its limbs were gnarled and fantastic, large enough to m 
form trunks for ordinary trees, twisting down almost to the 
earth, and rising again into the air. It was connected with the 
tragical story of the unfortunate Andr(5, who had been taken 
prisoner hard by, and was universally known by the name of 

883. The very witching-time of night. Hamlet, Act III. Sc. 2, line 406. 

898. Guttural (Lat. guttur, throat), formed in the throat; spoken of a 
sound made with a peculiar rough, croaking, gurgling, or grunting noise in the 
throat. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 61 

Major Andre's tree. The common peoj^le regarded it with a 915 
mixture of respect and superstition, partly out of sympathy for 
the fate of its ill-starred namesake, and partly from the tales of 
strange sights and doleful lamentations told concerning it. 

As Ichabod approached this fearful tree he began to whistle : 
he thought his whistle was answered ; it was but a blast sweep- 920 
ing sharply through the dry branches. As he approached a 
little nearer, he thought he saw something white hanging in 
the midst of the tree : he paused and ceased whistling ; but on 
looking more narrowly, perceived that it was a place where ihe 
tree had been scathed by lightning, and the white wood laid 925 
bare. Suddenly he heard a groan, — his teeth chattered and 
his knees smote against the saddle : it was but the rubbing of 
one huge bough upon another, as they were swayed about by 
the breeze. He passed the tree in safety, but new perils lay 
before him. 930 

About two hundred yards from the tree a small brook crossed 
the road, and ran into a marshy and thickly wooded glen, known 
by the name of Wiley's Swamp. A few rough logs, laid side 
by side, served for a bridge over this stream. On that side of 
the road where the brook entered the wood, a group of oaks and 935 
chestnuts, matted thick with wild grape-vines, threw a cavernous 
gloom over it. To pass this bridge was the severest trial. It 
was at this identical spot that the unfortunate Andre was cap- 
tured, and under the covert of those chestnuts and vines were 
the sturdy yeomen concealed who surprised him. This has ever 940 
since been considered a haunted stream, and fearful are the feel- 
ings of the school-boy who has to pass it alone after dark. 

As he approached the stream, his heart began to thump ; he 



917. Ill-starred, under the influence of unlucky stars, unfortunate. The 
word is a sort of relic of the old belief that the stars, visible or high in the 
sky at the time of a person's birth, determined his destiny. 

925. Scathed (A.-S. sceatha, damage, hurt; scethan, to harm), injured, 
damaged with suddenness and violence. Pronunciation ? 

940. Yeomen (Gothic gavi ; Ger. gau ; Frisian gao, a country district, 
rural place), dwellers in the country (rather than the city). 



62 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

summoned up, however, all his resolution, gave his horse lialf a 
score of kicks in the ribs, and attempted to dash briskly across 945 
the bridge ; but instead of starting forward, the perverse old 
animal made a lateral movement, and ran broadside against the 
fence. Ichabod, whose fears increased with the delay, jerked 
the reins on the other side, and kicked lustily with the contrary 
foot : it was aU in vain. His steed started, it is true ; but it swo 
was only to plunge to the opposite side of the road into a thicket 
of brambles and alder-bushes. The schoolmaster now bestowed 
both«ivhip and heel upon the starveling ribs of old Gunpowder, 
who dashed forward snuffling and snorting, but came to a stand 
just by the bridge with a suddenness that had nearly sent his 955 
rider sprawling over his head. Just at this moment a plashy 
tramp by the side of the bridge caught the sensitive ear of 
Ichabod. In the dark shadow of the grove, on the margin 
of the brook, he beheld something huge, misshapen, black, 
and towering. It stirred not, but seemed gathered up in the 96o 
gloom, like some gigantic monster ready to spring upon the 
traveller. 

The hair of the affrighted pedagogue rose upon his head with 
terror. What was to be done ? To turn and fly was now too 
late ; and, besides, what chance was there of escaping ghost or ges 
goblin, if such it was, which could ride upon the wings of the 
wind 1 Summoning up, therefore, a show of courage, he de- 
manded in stammering accents, "Who are you?" He received 
no reply. He repeated his demand in a still more agitated 
voice. Still there was no answer. Once more he cudgelled wo 
the sides of the inflexible Gunpowder, and, shutting his eyes, 
broke forth with involuntary fervor into a psalm-tune. Just 
then the shadowy object of alarm put itself in motion, and with 
a scramble and a bound stood at once in the middle of the road. 
Though the night was dark and dismal, yet the form of the un- 975 
known might now in some degree be ascertained. He appeared 
to be a horseman of large dimensions, and mounted on a black 

953. Starveling, hungry, lean, meagre, tliin, wasted from lack of nutri- 
ment. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 63 

horse of powerful frame. He made no offer of molestation or 
sociability, but kept aloof on one side of the road, jogging along 
on the blind side of old Gunpowder, who had now got over his gso 
fright and waywardness. 

Ichabod, who had no relish for this strange midnight com- 
panion, and bethought himself of the adventure of Brom Bones 
with the Galloping Hessian, now quickened his steed in hopes 
of leaving him behind. The stranger, however, quickened his 986 
horse to an ecjual pace. Ichabod pulled up and fell into a walk, 
thinking to lag behind : the other did the same. His heart 
began to sink within him ; he endeavored to resume his psalm- 
tune, but his parched tongue clave to the roof of his mouth, and 
he could not utter a stave. There was something in the moody 990 
and dogged silence of this pertinacious companion that was 
mysterious and appalling. It was soon fearfully accounted for. 
On mounting a rising ground, which brought the figure of his 
fellow-traveller in relief against the sky, gigantic in height, and 
muffled in a cloak, Ichabod was horror-struck on perceiving 995 
that he was headless ! But his horror was still more increased 
on observing that the head, which should have rested on his 
shoulders, was carried before him on the pommel of the saddle : 
his terror rose to desperation ; he rained a shower of kicks and 
blows upon Gunpowder, hoping by a sudden movement to give 1000 
his companion the slip, but the spectre started full jump with 
him. Away then they dashed, through thick and thin, stones 
flying, and sparks flashing, at every bound. Ichabod's flimsy 
garments fluttered in the air, as he stretched his long lank body 
away over his horse's head in the eagerness of his flight. 1005 

They had now reached the road which turns off" to Sleepy 
Hollow ; but Gunpowder, who seemed possessed with a demon, 
instead of keeping up it, made an opposite turn, and plunged 
headlong down the hill to the left. This road leads through 
a sandy hollow, shaded by trees for about a quarter of a mile, 1010 

990. Stave (akin to staff; Icelandic steff, strophe), a verse in psalm-singing, 
or so much of a hymn as is given out at once by the precentor to be sung by 
the congregation ; a staff or metrical portion of a tune. 



64 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

where it crosses the bridge famous in gobiin story ; and just 
beyond swells the green knoll on which stands the whitewashed 
church. 

As yet the panic of the steed had given his unskilful rider 
an apparent advantage in the chase; but just as he had gotiois 
half-way through the hollow, the girths of the saddle gave way, 
and he felt it slipping from under him. He seized it by the 
pommel, and endeavored to hold it firm, but in vain ; and had 
just time to save himself by clasping old Gunpowder round the 
neck, when the saddle fell to the earth, and he heard it trampled 1020 
under foot by his pursuer. For a moment the terror of Hans 
Van Eipper's wrath passed across his mind, — for it was his 
Sunday saddle j — but this was no time for petty fears ; the 
goblin was hard on his haunches, and (unskilful rider that he 
was !) he had much ado to maintain his seat, sometimes slipping 1025 
on one side, sometimes on the other, and sometimes jolted on 
the high ridge of his horse's backbone with a violence that he 
verily feared would cleave him asunder. 

An opening in the trees now cheered him with the hopes 
that the church bridge was at hand. The wavering reflection 1030 
of a silver star in the bosom of the brook told him that he was 
not mistaken. He saw the walls of the church dimly glaring 
under the trees beyond. He recollected the place where Brom 
Bones' ghostly competitor had disappeared. " If I can but reach 
that bridge," thought Ichabod, " I am safe." Just then he 1035 
heard the black steed panting and blowing close behind him : 
he even fancied that he felt his hot breath. Another convulsive 
kick in the ribs, and old Gunpowder sprang upon the bridge ; 
he thundered over the resounding planks ; he gained the oppo- 
site side : and now Ichabod cast a look behind, to see if his 1040 
pursuer should vanish, according to rule, in a flash of fire and 



1011. Goblin (Fr. gobelin, a hobgoblin), a supernatural being, misshapen, 
hideous, monstrous. 

1034. If I can but reach that bridge, etc. See Burns's Tarn O^Shanter 
for an illustration of the superstitious notion that witches cannot cross the 
middle of a stream. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 65 

brimstone. Just then he saw the goblin rising in his stir- 
rups and in the very act of hurling his head at him. Ichabod 
endeavored to dodge the horrible missile, but too late. It 1045 
encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash : he was tum- 
bled headlong into the dust, and Gunpowder, the black steed, 
and the goblin rider passed by like a whirlwind. 

The next morning the old horse was found, without his saddle, 
and with the bridle under his feet, soberly cropping the grass 1050 
at his master's gate. Ichabod did not make his appearance at 
breakfast. Dinner-hour came ; but no Ichabod ! The boys 
assembled at the school-house, and strolled idly about the banks 
of the brook ; but no schoolmaster. Hans Van Eipper now 
began to feel some uneasiness about the fate of poor Ichabod loss 
and his saddle. An inquiry was set on foot, and after diligent 
investigation they came upon his traces. In one part of the 
road leading to the church was found the saddle trampled in 
the dirt ; the tracks of horses' hoofs, deeply dented in the road, 
and evidently at furious speed, were traced to the bridge, beyond loeo 
which, on the bank of a broad part of the brook where the water 
ran deep and black, was found the hat of the unfortunate Icha- 
bod, and close beside it a shattered pumpkin. 

The brook was searched, but the body of the schoolmaster 
was not to be discovered. Hans Van Eipper, as executor of loes 
his estate, examined the bundle which contained all his worldly 
effects. They consisted of two shirts and a half, two stocks for 
the neck, a pair or two of worsted stockings, an old pair of cor- 
duroy small-clothes, a rusty razor, a book of psalm-tunes full of 
dog's-ears, and a broken pitch-pipe. As to the books and fur- loro 
niture of the school-house, they belonged to the community ; 
excepting Cotton Mather's History of Witchcraft, a New Eng- 
land Almanac, and a book of dreams and fortune-telling ; in 

1065. Executor. The person appointed by tlie maker of a will to see that 
it is carried into effect. What is an administrator ? 

1068. Corduroy (Fr. corde-du-roi, cord of the king), a thick ribbed cotton- 
cloth used for pantaloons, gaiters, etc. 

1070. Dog's-ears, the turned-down corners of the leaves in a book. 



66 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

which last was a sheet of foolscap much scribWed and blotted 
in several fruitless attempts to make a copy of verses in honor 1075 
of the heiress of Van Tassel. These magic books and the poetic 
scrawl were forthwith consigned to the flames by Hans Van Eip- 
per, who, from that time forward, determined to send his children 
no more to school, observing that he never knew any good come 
of this same reading and writing. Whatever money the school- loso 
master possessed — and he had received his quarter's pay but 
a day or two before — he must have had about his person at 
the time of his disappearance. 

The mysterious event caused much speculation at the church 
on the following Sunday. Knots of gazers and gossips were vm 
collected in the churchyard, at the bridge, and at the spot where 
the hat and pumpkin had been found. The stories of Brouwer, 
of Bones, and a whole budget of others, were called to mind ; 
and when they had diligently considered them all, and compared 
them with the symptoms of the present case, they shook their loso 
heads, and came to the conclusion that Ichabod had been carried 
oft" by the Galloping Hessian. As he was a bachelor, and in 
nobody's debt, nobody troubled his head any more about him : 
the school was removed to a different quarter of the hollow, and 
another pedagogue reigned in his stead. 1095 

It is true, an old farmer who had been down to New York 
on a visit several years after, and from whom this account of 
the ghostly adventure was received, brought home the intelli- 
gence that Ichabod Crane was still alive ; that he had left tlie 
neighborhood, partly through fear of the goblin and Hans Van 1100 
Ripper, and partly in mortification at having been suddenly 
dismissed by the heiress ; that he had changed his quarters to 
a distant part of the country ; had kept school and studied law 
at the same time ; had been admitted to the bar, turned poli- 
tician, electioneered, written for the newspapers, and finally uos 

1074. Foolscap. A fooVs cap was a pointed cap once worn by profes- 
sional jesters, court fools, or circus clowns. The figure of this cap was 
formerly used as the water-mark of the writing-paper now known as fools- 
cap. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 67 

had been made a justice of the Ten-pound Court. Brom. Bones, 
too, who shortly after his rival's disappearance conducted the 
blooming Katrina in triumph to the altar, was observed to look 
exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was re- 
lated, and always burst into a hearty laugh at the mention of uio 
the pumpkin ; which led some to suspect that he knew more 
about the matter than he chose to tell. 

The old country wives, however, who are the best judges of 
these matters, maintain to this day that Ichabod was spirited 
away by supernatural means ; and it is a favorite story, often ms 
told about the neighborhood round the winter evening fire. 
The bridge became more than ever an object of superstitious 
awe, and that may be the reason why the road has been altered 
of late years, so as to approach the church by the border of the 
mill-pond. The school-house, being deserted, soon fell to decay, im 
and Avas reported to be haunted by the ghost of the unfortunate 
pedagogue ; and the ploughboy, loitering homeward of a still 
summer evening, has often fancied his voice at a distance, 
chanting a melancholy psalm-tune among the tranquil solitudes 
of Sleepy Hollow. ^^ 



POSTSCEIPT, 

FOUND IN THE HANDWRITING OP MR. KNICKERBOCKER. 

The preceding tale is given, almost in the precise words in 
which I heard it related at a Corporation meeting of the ancient 
city of Manhattoes, at which were present many of its sagest 

1106. Ten-pound Court, an inferior court having jurisdiction in cases in- 
volving not over ten pounds. 

1014. Spirited away, carried away swiftly and secretly, as if by a spirit. 

Postscript (Lat. post, after, and scriptwn, written), a sentence or passage 
added to a letter, and signed by the writer ; any addition made to a book or 
composition after it had been supposed to be finished. 

3. City of Manhattoes, New York. See History of New York, Book II. 
Chap. 6. 



68 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

and most illustrious burghers. The narrator was a pleasant, 
shabby, gentlemanly old fellow, in pepper-and-salt clothes, with 5 
a sadly humorous face, and one whom I strongly suspected of 
being poor, — he made such efforts to be entertaining. When 
his story was concluded, there was much laughter and appro- 
bation, particularly from two or three deputy aldermen, who 
had been asleep the greater part of the time. There was, 10 
however, one tall, dry -looking old gentleman, with beetling eye- 
brows, who maintained a grave and rather a severe face through- 
out ; now and then folding his arms, inclining his head, and 
looking down upon the floor, as if turning a doubt over in his 
mind. He was one of your wary men, who never laugh but is 
upon good grounds, — when they have reason and the law on 
their side. When the mirth of the rest of the company had 
subsided, and silence was restored, he leaned one arm on the 
elbow of his chair, and, sticking the other a-kimbo, demanded, 
with a slight but exceedingly sage motion of the head, and 20 
contraction of the brow, what was the moral of the story, and 
what it went to prove ? 

The story-teller, who was just putting a glass of wine to his 
lips, as a refreshment after his toils, paused for a moment, 
looked at his inquirer with an air of infinite deference, and, 23 
lowering the glass slowly to the table, observed that the story 
was intended most logically to prove : — 

" That there is no situation in life but has its advantages 
and pleasures, — provided we will but take a joke as we find it: 

" That, therefore, he that runs races with goblin troopers is 30 
likely to have rough riding of it. 

" Ergo, for a country schoolmaster to be refused the hand 
of a Dutch heiress is a certain step to high preferment in the 
state." 

4. Burghers, burgesses or freemen of a burgh or borough, citizens. "Bor- 
ough is a word spread over all the Teutonic and Roinance languages 

The origin seems to be the Gothic hairgan, A.-S. heorgan^ to protect, keep, 
preserve The primitive idea seems to bring under cover." Wedgivood. 

19. A-kimbo, with hands resting on the hips and the elbows turned out- 
wards. 



THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. 69 

The cautious old gentleman knit his brows tenfold closer 
after this explanation, being sorely puzzled by the ratiocination 3« 
of the syllogism : while, methought, the one in pepper-and-salt 
eyed him with something of a triumphant leer. At length he 
observed that all this was very well, but still he thought the 
story a little on the extravagant, — there were one or two points 
on which he had his doubts. ' ^^ 

"Faith, sir," replied the story-teller, "as to that matter, I 
don't believe one half of it myself." 



SUGGESTIONS OF TOPICS OF INQUIRY. 

What is the general character of this sketch, — patlietic ? didactic ? 
humorous ? 

Where is Sleepy Hollow ? Describe it. 

Who is the hero of this sketch ? tlie heroine ? 

Name all the characters, and connect with each appropriate qualifying 
words or phrases. 

Of what are there descriptions in this sketch '/ Persons, scenes, animals, 
buildings ? Of what else ? 

Select one description of each kind. Keproduce one of the selections in 
fresh words. 

What are some of the most prominent traits in Ichabod's character ? 

Name, and describe briefly, the horses in this sketch. 

Make four short quotations, each complete in itself. 

Select several of the most humorous passages. 

Write a composition on " School in Sleepy Hollow." 

When is Ichabod Crane most ludicrous ? 

What does Ichabod do when he is very much frightened ? 

How were the guests entertained at the " quilting frolic " ? 

Commit to memory the most beautiful description in the piece. 

35. Batiocination (Lat. ratiocinatio, reasoning), the act or process of rea- 
soning, (Jr of deducing consequences from premises. 

36. Syllogism (Gr. and Lat. ), a form of reasoning or argument consisting 
of three propositions, of Avhich the first two are called the premises, and the 
last the conclusion ; if the two first propositions are true, the conclusion 
necessarily follows. 

37. Leer (Icelandic hliira, hlera, to listen ; whence comes the notion of 
looking in a sly or covert way ; Dutch loeren), a sidewise look with archness, 
smirking, aff"ectation, or implied solicitation. The word usually bears an 
unfavorable sense. 



70 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

Describe the Headless Horseman as Ichabod saw him. Explain the mystery 
of his appearance to Ichabod. 

Who settled Ichabod's estate ? What property had he ? 

What accounts of Ichabod were brouglit from New York ? 

What did the " old country wives " maintain ? 

Analyze the last sentence in the piece. 

Select any sentence that pleases you, and give the meaning of it in different 
words, making an equivalent sentence. Make six such equivalent sentences, 
each of which shall mean exactly the same as the following : " There is no 
situation in life but has its advantages and pleasures, — provided we will but 
take a joke as we find it." 

This practice of constructing equivalent sentences is always entertaining, 
and one of the most profitable of language lessons. 



THE WIDOW AND HER SON. 

" Pittie old age, within whose silver haires 
Honour and reverence evermore have rained." 

Marlowe's Tamburlaine. 

Those who are in the habit of remarking such matters must 
have noticed the passive quiet of an English landscape on Sun- 
day. The clacking of the mill, the regularly recurring stroke 
of the flail, the din of the blacksmith's hammer, the whistling of 
the ploughman, the rattling of the cart, and all other sounds 
of rural labor, are suspended. The very farm-dogs bark less 
frequently, being less disturbed by passing travellers. At such 
times I have almost fancied the winds sunk into quiet, and 
that the sunny landscape, with its fresh green tints melting 
into blue haze, enjoyed the hallowed calm. 

" Sweet day, so pure, so calm, so bright, 
The bridal of the earth and sky." 

Well was it ordained that the day of devotion should be a 
day of rest. The holy repose which reigns over the face of 
nature has its moral influence ; every restless passion is charmed 
down, and we feel the natural religion of the soul gently spring- 
ing up within us. For my part, there are feelings that visit me 

Marlowe's Tamburlaine. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) had perhaps 
the most dramatic genius of all of Shakespeare's contemporaries. Tambur- 
laine the Great is one of his tragedies. 
3. Clacking. Chaucer says, "Age clappeth as a mill." 
11. " Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright. 
The bridal of the earth and sky, 
The dews shall weep thy fall to-night, 
For thou must die." 
From a poem called "Virtue," by George Herbert (1593-1633). 



72 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

in a country church, amid the beautiful serenity of nature, 
which I experience nowhere else ; and if not a more religious, 
I think I am a better man on Sunday than on any other day 
of the seven. 

During my recent residence in the country I used frequently 
to attend at the old village church. Its shadowy aisles, its 
mouldering monuments, its dark oaken paneUing, all reverend 
with the gloom of departed years, seemed to fit it for the haunt 
of solemn meditation; but being in a wealthy aristocratic 
neighborhood, the glitter of fashion penetrated even into the 
sanctuary, and I felt myself continually thrown back upon the 
world by the frigidity and pomp of the poor worms around me. 
The only being in the whole congregation who appeared thor- 
oughly to feel the humble and prostrate piety of a true Chris- 
tian was a poor decrepit old woman, bending under the weight 
of years and infirmities. She bore the traces of something 
better than abject poverty. The lingerings of decent pride 
were visible in her appearance. Her dress, though humble in 
the extreme, was scrupulously clean. Some trivial respect, too, 
had been awarded her, for she did not take her seat among the 
village poor, but sat alone on the steps of the altar. She 
seemed to have survived all love, all friendship, all society ; 
and to have nothing left her but the hopes of heaven. When 
I saw her feebly rising and bending her aged form in prayer ; 
habitually conning her prayer-book, which her palsied hand 
and failing eyes would not permit her to read, but which she 
evidently knew by heart ; I felt persuaded that the faltering 
voice of that poor woman arose to heaven far before the re- 
sponses of the clerk, the swell of the organ, or the chanting of 
the choir ! 

I am fond of loitering about country churches, and this was 

29. Frigidity {lidX. frigus, cold), coldness. 

32. Decrepit (Lat. de, from, and crepare, to make a noise ; whence Lat. 
decrepitus, witliout noise. Spoken of old age or old people), worn out, infinn 
from age. . 

42. Conning (A.-S. cunnan, to know ; ken, to perceive by the sense of 
sight, observe), studying, poring over. 



THE WIDOW AND HER SON. 73 

so delightfully situated, that it frequently attracted me. It 
stood on a knoll, round which a small stream made a beautiful so 
bend, and then wound its way through a long reach of soft 
meadow scenery. The church was surrounded by yew-trees 
which seemed almost coeval with itself. Its tall Gothic spire 
shot up lightly from among them, with rooks and crows gen- 
erally wheeling about it. I was seated there one still sunny ss 
morning, watching two laborers who were digging a grave. 
They had chosen one of the most remote and neglected corners 
of the churchyard ; where, from the number of nameless graves 
around, it would appear that the indigent and friendless were 
huddled into the earth. I was told that the new-made grave eo 
was for the only son of a poor widow. While I was medi- 
tating on the distinctions of worldly rank, which extend thus 
down into the very dust, the toll of the bell announced the 
approach of the funeral. They were the obsequies of poverty, 
with which pride had nothing to do. A coffin of the plainest es 
materials, without paU or other covering, was borne by some 
of the villagers. The sexton walked before with an air of cold 
indifference. There were no mock mourners in the trappings 
of affected woe ; but there was one real mourner who feebly 
tottered after the corpse. It was the aged mother of the 70 
deceased, — the poor old woman whom I had seen seated on 
the steps of the altar. She was supported by a humble friend, 
who was endeavoring to comfort her. A few of the neighbor- 
ing poor had joined the train, and some children of the village 
were running hand in hand, now shouting with unthinking 75 
mirth, and now pausing to gaze, with childish curiosity, on the 
grief of the mourner. 

As the funeral train approached the grave, the parson issued 

52. Yew-trees, evergreen trees common in English cliurcliyards. 

53. Coeval (Lat. con, with, and cem/.m, age), of the same age. 

64. Obsequies (Lat. obsequi, to follow), funeral rites. Tliis word is rarely 
used in the singular number. 

68. Mock mourners, etc. Perhaps the author has in mind the English 
custom of hiring mourners or "mutes" to stand before the house of a dead 
person, and to precede the bier in a funeral procession. 



74 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

from the church porch, arrayed in the surplice, with prayer- 
book in hand, and attended by the clerk. The service, how- 
ever, was a mere act of charity. The deceased had been 
destitute, and the survivor was penniless. It was shuffled 
through, therefore, in form, but coldly and unfeelingly. The 
well-fed priest moved but a few steps from the church door ; 
his voice could scarcely be heard at the grave ; and never did a 
I hear the funeral service — that sublime and touching cere- 
mony — turned into such a frigid mummery of words. 

I approached the grave. The coffin was placed on the 
ground. On it were inscribed the name and age of the de- 
ceased, — " George Somers, aged twenty-six years." The poor ao 
mother had been assisted to kneel down at the head of it. 
Her withered hands were clasped, as if in prayer, but I could 
perceive by a feeble rocking of the body, and a convulsive 
motion of the lips, that she was gazing on the last relics of her 
son with the yearnings of a mother's heart. 95 

Preparations were made to deposit the coffin in the earth. 
There was that bustling stir which breaks so harshly on the 
feelings of grief and affection ; directions given in the cold 
tones of business ; the striking of spades into sand and gravel ; 
which, at the grave of those we love, is, of all sounds, the 100 
most withering. The bustle around seemed to waken the 
mother from a wretched reverie. She raised her glazed eyes, 
and looked about with a faint wildness. As the men ap- 
proached with cords to lower the coffin into the grave, she 
wrung her hands, and broke into an agony of grief. The poor los 
woman who attended her took her by the arm, endeavoring to 
raise her from the earth, and to whisper something like con- 
solation : " Nay, now, nay, now — don't take it so sorely to 
heart." She could only shake her head and wring her hands, 
as one not to be comforted. "" 

As they lowered the body into the earth, the creaking of the 

87. Mummery (a mummer is originally a masker), a hypocritical disguise 
or parade. 
102. Severie. See note on reveries, page 3. 



THE WIDOW AND HER SON. 75 

cords seemed to agonize her; but when, on some accidental 
obstruction, there was a justling of the coffin, all the tenderness 
of the mother burst forth ; as if any harm could come to him 
who was far beyond the reach of worldly suffering. us 

I could see no more — my heart swelled into my throat — my 
eyes filled with tears — I felt as if I were acting a barbarous part 
in standing by and gazing idly on this scene of maternal anguish. 
I wandered to another part of the churchyard, where I remained 
until the funeral train had dispersed. 120 

When I saw the mother slowly and painfully quitting the 
grave, leaving behind her the remains of all that was dear to 
her on earth, ^nd returning to silence and destitution, my heart 
ached for her. What, thought I, are the distresses of the rich ] 
they have friends to soothe — pleasures to beguile — a world to 125 
divert and dissipate their griefs. What are the sorrows of the 
young 1 Their growing minds soon close above the wound — 
their elastic spirits soon rise beneath the pressure — their green 
and ductile affections soon twine round new objects. But the 
sorrows of the poor, who have no outward appliances to soothe iso 
— the sorrows of the aged, with whom life at best is but a win- 
try day, and who can look for no after-growth of joy — the 
sorrows of a widow, aged, solitary, destitute, mourning over an 
only son, the last solace of her years, — these are indeed sor- 
rows which make us feel the impotency of consolation. 135 

It was some time before I left the churchyard. On my way 
homeward I met with the woman who had acted as comforter : 
she was just returning from accompanying the mother to her 
lonely habitation, and I drew from her some particulars con- 
nected with the affecting scene I had witnessed. i*> 

The parents of the deceased had resided in the village from 
childhood. They had inhabited one of the neatest cottages, and 
by various rural occupations, and the assistance of a small garden, 
had supported themselves creditably and comfortably, and led a 
happy and blameless life. They had one son, who had grown us 

129. Ductile (Lat. ducgre, to lead), easy to be led, pliant. The aflFections 
are like shoots or tendi-ils of a vine. 



76 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

up to be the staff aud pride of their age. " 0, sir ! " said the 
good •woman, " he was such a comely lad, so sweet-tempered, 
so kind to every one around him, so dutiful to his parents ! It 
did one's heart good to see him of a Sunday, dressed out in his 
best, so tall, so straight, so cheery, supporting his old mother im 
to church, — for she was always fonder of leaning on George's 
arm than on her good-man's; and, poor soul, she might well 
be proud of him, for a finer lad there was not in the country 
round." 

Unfortunately, the son was tempted, during a year of scarcity 155 
and agricultural hardship, to enter into the service of one of the 
small craft that phed on a neighboring river. He had not been 
long in this employ when he was entrapped by a press-gang, and 
carried off to sea. His parents received tidings of his seizure, 
but beyond that they could learn nothing. It was the loss of leo 
their main prop. The father, who was already infirm, grew 
heartless and melancholy, and sunk into his grave. The widow, 
left lonely in her age and feebleness, could no longer support 
herself, and came upon the parish. Still there was a kind feeling 
toward her throughout the village, and a certain respect as being les 
one of the oldest inhabitants. As no one applied for the cottage 
in which she had passed so many happy days, she was permitted 
to remain in it, where she lived solitary and almost helpless. 
The few wants of nature were chiefly supplied from the scanty 
productions of her little garden, which the neighbors would no 
now and then cultivate for her. It was but a few days before 
the time at which these circumstances were told me, that she 
was gathering some vegetables for her repast, when she heard 
the cottage door which faced the garden suddenly opened. A 

152. Good-man, "a familiar yet respectful appellation of a husband." 

157. Small craft, small vessels of various kinds ; as sloops, schooners, etc. 

158. Press-gang, a detachment of seamen under the command of an officer, 
■who had power in time of war to seize men and force them to enter the Brit- 
ish naval service. 

164. Came upon the parish, became dependent upon public charity. To 
go on the parish in England is to become chargeable, as a pauper, to the paro- 
chial poor-rate. 



THE WIDOW AND HER SON. 77 

stranger came out, and seemed to be looking eagerly and wildly 175 
around. He was dressed in seaman's clothes, was emaciated and 
ghastly pale, and bore the air of one broken by sickness and 
hardships. He saw her, and hastened towards her, but his steps 
were faint and faltering ; he sank on his knees before her, and 
sobbed like a child. The poor woman gazed upon him with a iso 
vacant and wandering eye. ** 0, my dear, dear mother ! don't 
you know your son 1 your poor boy George 1 " It was indeed 
the wreck of her once noble lad, who, shattered by wounds, by 
sickness and foreign imprisonment, had at length dragged his 
Avasted limbs homeward, to repose among the scenes of his iss 
childhood. 

I will not attempt to detail the particulars of such a meeting, 
where joy and sorrow were so completely blended : still he was 
alive ! he was come home ! he might yet live to comfort and 
cherish her old age ! Nature, however, was exhausted in him ; lao 
and if anything had been wanting to finish the work of fate, the 
desolation of his native cottage would have been sufficient. He 
stretched himself on the pallet on which his widowed mother 
had passed many a sleepless night, and he never rose from it 
again. 195 

The villagers, when they heard that George Somers had re- 
turned, crowded to see him, offering every comfort and assistance 
that their humble means afforded. He was too weak, however, 
to talk, — he could only look his thanks. His mother was his 
constant attendant, and he seemed unwilling to be helped by 200 
any other hand. 

There is something in sickness that breaks down the pride of 
manhood; that softens the heart, and brings it back to the 
feelings of infancy. Who that has languished, even in advanced 
life, in sickness and despondency; who that has pined on a 205 
weary bed in the neglect and loneliness of a foreign land ; but 
has thought on the mother " that looked on his childhood," 

193. Pallet {lioX. palea, chaflf; Fr. paille, straw), a humble bed of straw 
or chaff. 
202 - 219. Notice the beautiful tribute to a mother's love. 



78 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

that smoothed his pillow, and administered to his helplessness ? 
Oh ! there is an enduring tenderness in the love of a mother to 
her son that transcends all other aflfections of the heart. It is 210 
neither to be chilled by selfishness, nor daunted by danger, nor 
weakened by worthlessness, nor stifled by ingratitude. She 
wUl sacrifice every comfort to his convenience ; she will sur- 
render every pleasure to his enjoyment ; she will glory in his 
fame, and exult in his prosperity j and, if misfortune overtake 215 
him, he will be the dearer to her from misfortune ; and if dis- 
grace settle upon his name, she will still love and cherish him 
in spite of his disgrace ; and if all the world beside cast him 
off, she will be all the world to him. 

Poor George Somers had known what it was to be in sickness, 220 
and none to soothe ; lonely and in prison, and none to visit 
him. He could not endure his mother from his sight ; if 
she moved away, his eye would follow her. She would sit 
for hours by his bed, watching him as he slept. Sometimes 
he would start from a feverish dream, and look anxiously up 225 
until he saw her bending over him ; when he would take her 
hand, lay it on his bosom, and fall asleep with the tranquillity 
of a child. In this way he died. 

My first impulse on hearing this humble tale of affliction was 
to visit the cottage of the mourner, tind administer pecuniary 230 
assistance, and, if possible, comfort. I found, however, on in- 
quiry, that the good feelings of the villagers had prompted them 
to do everything that the case admitted ; and as the poor know 
best how to console each other's sorrows, I did not venture to 
intrude. 2s« 

The next Sunday I was at the village church; when, to my 
surprise, I saw the poor old woman tottering down the aisle to 
her accustomed seat on the steps of the altar. 

She had made an effort to put on something like mourning 
for her son ; and nothing could be more touching than this 240 
struggle between pious affection and utter poverty : a black 

211. Notice the alliteration. 



THE WIDOW AND HER SON. 79 

ribbon or so, a faded black handkerchief, and one or two more 
such humble attempts to express by outward signs that grief 
which passes show. When I looked round upon the storied 
monuments, the stately hatchments, the cold marble pomp, 245 
with which grandeur mourned magnificently over departed 
pride, and turned to this poor widow, bowed down by age and 
sorrow at the altar of her God, and oflTering up the prayers and 
praises of a pious, though a broken heart, I felt that this living 
monument of real grief was worth them all ! 250 

I related her story to some of the wealthy members of the 
congregation, and they were moved by it. They exerted them- 
selves to render her situation more comfortable, and to lighten 
her afflictions. It was, however, but smoothing a few steps to 
the grave. In the course of a Sunday or two after, she was 255 
missed from her usual seat at church, and before I left the 
neighborhood, I heard, with a feeling of satisfaction, that she 
had quietly breathed her last, and had gone to rejoin those she 
loved, in that world where sorrow is never known, and friends 
are never parted. 2eo 

244. Passes, surpasses, exceeds, goes beyond. Storied monuments, monu- 
ments on which are inscribed some accounts of the brave deeds or the noble 
lives of those in memory of whom they are erected. 

245. Hatchments. In heraldry, a hatchment is the coat-of-arms of a person 
dead ; by it, his rank may be known. More specifically, " A hatchment 
(corrupted from achievement) is an armorial escutcheon [or frame bearing 
such escutcheon], lozenge-shaped, sxispended in front of a house, in a church, 
or on the hearse at funerals, to mark the decease of a member of the family. 
.... From the form and accompaniments of the field, and the color of the 
ground of the hatchment, the sex, position, and rank of the deceased may be 
known." ZelVs Encyclopaedia. 



80 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 



SUGGESTIONS OF TOPICS OF INQUIEY. 

What is the general character of this sketch ? humorous ? pathetic ? narra- 
tive ? 

Where is the scene laid ? Quote to prove the correctness of your answer. 

What is the author's description of the church and the congregation ? Give 
it in your own language. 

Of whom does he speak particularly ? Why ? 

Describe the funeral in your own words. 

What funeral service was read? Evidence of the correctness of your 
answer ? 

Why is the sorrow of the poor woman very great ? 

Tell in fresh words all that is related of George Somers. 

Commit to memory, "When I looked round upon the storied monuments," 
etc., to the end of the paragraph. 

Select some of the most pathetic passages and expressions. 

Are the words used in this sketch, generally speaking, short or long, com- 
mon or imcommon ? 

Select all the words that are at all uncommon, and all the long words, and 
make an answer to the previous question from your own knowledge of words, 
and by means of your own judgment. 

Is there simplicity or complexity in the story ? Are the incidents multi- 
plied and complex, or few and simple ? Are they extraordinary, or do they 
relate to the common life of poor people? Can you give any reason why 
the story is so touching ? Does the author seem to feel what he says ? Would 
this have any effect on his writing ? 

Give the substance of the last paragraph of the sketch. Give in your own 
words an equivalent for each sentence in this paragraph, being careful to get 
in all the ideas and no more. 

Find synonymous words (i. e. words having the same or nearly the same 
meaning) for the following : serenity, frigidity, awarded, survived, inscribed, 
quitting. Point out any difference that may exist in the meaning or use of 
the equivalent words. 



Q 



RIP VAN WINKLE. 81 



RIP VAN 'WINKLE. 

[The following Tale was found among the papers of the late Diedrich 
Knickerbocker, an old gentleman of New York, who was very curious in 
the Dutch history of the province, and the manners of the descendants 
from its primitive settlers. His historical researches, however, did not 
lie so much among books as among men ; for the former are lamentably 
scanty on his favorite topics ; whereas he found the old burghers, and 
still more their wives, rich in that legendary lore so invaluable to true 
history. Whenever, therefore, he happened upon a genuine Dutch family, 
snugly shut up in its low-roofed farmhouse, under a spreading sycamore, 
he looked upon it as a little clasped volume of black-letter, and studied 
it with the zeal of a bookworm. 

The result of all these researches was a history of the province during 
the reign of the Dutch governors, which he published some years since. 
There have been various opinions as to the literary character of his work, 
and, to tell the truth, it is not a whit better than it should be. Its chief 
merit is its scrupulous accuracy, which indeed was a little questioned on 
its first appearance, but has since been completely established ; and it is 
now admitted into all historical collections, as a book of unquestionable 
authority. 

The old gentleman died shortly after the publication of his work, and 
now that he is dead and gone, it cannot do much harm to his memory to 
say, that his time might have been much better employed in weightier 
labors. He, however, was apt to ride his hobby his own way ; and 
though it did now and then kick up the dust a little in the eyes of his 
neighbors, and grieve the spirit of some friends, for whom he felt the 
truest deference and affection ; yet his errors and follies are remembered 
"more in sorrow than in anger," and it begins to be suspected that he 
never intended to injure or offend. But, however his memory may be 
appreciated by critics, it is still held dear by many folk whose good 
opinion is well worth having ; particularly by certain biscuit-bakers, 
who have gone so far as to imprint his likeness on their new-year cakes ; 
and have thus given him a chance for immortality, almost equal to the 
being stamped on a Waterloo Medal, or a Queen Anne's farthing.] 



82 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

EIP VAN WINKLE. 

A POSTHUMOUS WRITING OF DIEDRICH KNICKERBOCKER. 

" By Woden, God of Saxons, 
From whence comes Wensday, that is Wodensday, 
Trath is a thing that ever I will keep 
Unto thylke day in which I creep into 
My sepulchre." 

Cartwright. 

Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson, must remember 
the Kaatskill Mountains. They are a dismembered branch of 
the great Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of 
the river, swelling up to a noble height, and lording it over the 
surrounding country. Every change of season, every change « 
of weather, indeed every hour of the day, produces some change 
in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains, and they 
are regarded by all the good wives, far and near, as perfect 
barometers. When the weather is fair and settled, they are 
clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on lo 
the clear evening sky ; but sometimes, when the rest of the 
landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors 
about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, 
will glow and light up like a crown of glory. 

At the foot of these fairy mountains the voyager may have 15 
descried the light smoke curling up from a village, whose 
shingle-roofs gleam among the trees, just where the blue tints 



Posthumous (Lat. pnst, after, posterns later, postumus or posthumus, 
latest, last), horn after the death of a parent; published after the death of an 
author ; coming after one's death. 

Thylke (Old Eng. compound of thus and like), that same, 

Cartwright. William Cartwright (1611-1643) studied sixteen hours a 
day, wi-ote plays and lyrics, preached able sermons, aad gave excellent lec- 
tures at Oxford on metaphysics. 

2. Kaatskill, usually written Catskill. 



RIP VAN WINKLE. 83 

of the upland melt away into the fresh green of the nearer 
landscape. It is a little village of great antiquity, having been 
founded by some of the Dutch colonists in the early times of 20 
the province, just about the beginning of the government of 
the good Peter Stuyvesant, (may he rest in peace !) and there 
were some of the houses of the original settlers standing within 
a few years, built of small yeUow bricks brought from Holland, 
having latticed windows and gable fronts, surmounted with ^ 
weathercocks. 

In that same village, and in one of these very houses, (which, 
to teU the precise truth, was sadly time-worn and weather- 
beaten,) there lived many years since, while the country was 
yet a province of Great Britain, a simple good-natured fellow, 30 
of the name of Eip Van Winkle. He was a descendant of the 
Van Winkles who figured so gallantly in the chivalrous days 
of Peter Stuyvesant, and accompanied him to the siege of Fort 
Christina. He inherited, however, but little of the martial 
character of his ancestors. I have observed that he was a ss 
simple good-natured man ; he was, moreover, a kind neighbor, 
and an obedient hen-pecked husband. Indeed, to the latter 
circumstance might be owing that meekness of spirit which 
gained him such universal popularity ; for those men are most 
apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad, who are under vt 
the discipline of shrews at home. Their tempers, doubtless, are 
rendered pliant and malleable in the fiery furnace of domestic 
tribulation, and a curtain lecture is worth aU the sermons in 
the world for teaching the virtues of patience and long-suffer- 



33. Peter Stuyvesant, the fourth and last, as well as the ablest and most 
noted, governor of New Netherlands, afterwards New York. He conquered 
the Swedes on the Delaware. Their settlement, near the present site of 
Wilmington, was called Fort Christina. 

40. Obsequious, meanly conciliatory and submissive. 

41. Shrews, scolding, vixenish, vexatious women. 

42. Malleable (Lat. malleus, a hammer), capable of being hammered into 
plates, or beaten into any desired shape. 

43. Curtain lecture, a scolding administered by a wife to her husband after 
they have gone to bed. 



84 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

ing. A termagant wife may, therefore, in some respects, be « 
considered a tolerable blessing ; and if so, Eip Van Winkle 
was thrice blessed. 

Certain it is, that he was a great favorite among all the 
good wives of the village, who, as usual with the amiable sex, 
took his part in all family squabbles ; and never failed, when- so 
ever they talked those matters over in their evening gossipings, 
to lay all the blame on Dame Van Winkle. The children of 
the village, too, would shout with joy whenever he approached. 
He assisted at their sports, made their playthings, taught them 
to fly kites and shoot marbles, and told them long stories of ss 
ghosts, witches, and Indians. Whenever he went dodging 
about the village, he was surrounded by a troop of them, hang- 
ing on his skirts, clambering on his back, and playing a thou- 
sand tricks on him with impunity ; and not a dog would bark 
at him throughout the neighborhood. eo 

The great error in Eip's composition was an insuperable aver- 
sion to all kinds of profitable labor., It could not be from the 
want of assiduity or perseverance ; for he would sit on a wet 
rock, with a rod as long and heavy as a Tartar's lance, and fish 
all day without a murmur, even though he should not be en- es 
couraged by a smgle nibble. He would carry a fowling-piece 
on his shoulder for hours together, trudging through woods 
and swamps, and up hill and down dale, to shoot a few squir- 
rels or wild pigeons. He would never refuse to assist a neigh- 
bor even in the roughest toil, and was a foremost man at all ro 
country frolics for husking Indian corn, or building stone 
fences : the women of the village, too, used to employ him to 
run their errands, and to do such little odd jobs as their less 
obliging husbands would not do for them. In a word, Eip 
was ready to attend to anybody's business but his own ; but 75 
as to doing family duty, and keeping his farm in order, he 
found it impossible. 

45. Termagant (or Tervagant, one of the supposed deities of the Saracens, 
who was represented in our old dramas as a most boisterous and violent char- 
acter), tumiiltuous, boisterous, furious, violently quarrelsome and scolding. 

64. Tartar's. See note on Tartar, p. 44. 



RIP VAN WINKLE. 85 

I In fact, he declared it was of no use to work on his farm ; it 
was the most pestilent little piece of ground in the -whole 
country ; everything about it went wrong, and would go wrong, so 
in spite of him. His fences were continually falling to pieces ; 
his cow would either go astray, or get among the cabbages j 
weeds were sure to grow quicker in his fields than anywhere 
else ; the rain always made a point of setting in just as he had 
some out-door work to do ; so that though his patrimonial ss 
estate had dwindled away under his management, acre by acre, 
xintO. there was little more left than a mere patch of Indian 
corn and potatoes, yet it was the worst conditioned farm in the 
neighborhood. ^ 

His children, too, were as ragged and wild as if they belonged so 
to nobody. His son Eip, an urchin begotten in his own like- 
ness, promised to inherit the habits, with the old clothes of 
his father. He was generally seen trooping like a colt at his 
mother's heels, eqiiipped in a pair of his father's cast-off galli- 
gaskins, which he had much ado to hold up with one hand, as 95 
a fine lady does her train in bad weather. 

Eip Van Winkle, however, was one of those happy mortals, 
of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat 
white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought 
or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a 100 
pound. If left to himself, he would have whistled life away in 
perfect contentment ; but his wife kept continually dinning in 
his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was 
bringing on his family. Morning, noon, and night her tongue 
was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure 105 
to produce a torrent of household eloquence. Eip had but one 

79. Pestilent, troublesome, plaguing. 
91. TJrcMn. See note on this word, p. 34. 

94. Galligaskins, large open hose, or loose wide breeches, formerly used 
by the inhabitants of Gascony in France. (This word is not now used, ex- 
cept in humorous language. It is said to be a corruption of the French Avord 
Greguesqn, Greek ; Lat. grcecics. ) 

95. Ado (said to be from a and do ; like the French d, to [from Lat. ad, to] 
and /aire, to do), trouble. 



86 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

■way of replying to all lectures of the kind, and that, by frequent 
use, had grown into a habit. He shrugged his shoulders, shook 
his head, cast up his eyes, but said nothing. This, however, 
always provoked a fresh volley from his wife, so that he was no 
fain to draw off his forces, and take to the outside of the 
house, — the only side which, in truth, belongs to a hen-pecked 
husband. 

Eip's sole domestic adherent was his dog Wolf, who was as 
much hen-pecked as his master ; for Dame Van Winkle regarded us 
them as companions in idleness, and even looked upon Wolf 
with an evU eye, as the cause of his master's going so often 
astray. True it is, in all points of spirit befitting an honora- 
ble dog, he was as courageous an animal as ever scoured the 
woods; but what courage can withstand the ever-during and all- 120 
besetting terrors of a woman's tongue 1 The moment Wolf 
entered the house his crest fell, his tail drooped to the ground 
or curled between his legs, he sneaked about with a gallows air, 
casting many a sidelong glance at Dame Van Winkle, and at 
the least flourish of a broomstick or ladle, he would fly to the 125 
door with yelping precipitation. 

Times grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years 
of matrimony rolled on ; a tart temper never mellows with age, 
and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener 
with constant use. For a long while he used to console himself, 130 
when driven from home, by frequenting a kind of perpetual 
club of the sages, philosophers, and other idle personages of the 
village, which held its sessions on a bench before a small inn, 
designated by a rubicund portrait of his Majesty George the 
Third. Here they used to sit in the shade through a long lazy 135 
summer's day, talking listlessly over village gossip, or telling 
endless sleepy stories about nothing. But it would have been 
worth any statesman's money to have heard the profound dis- 
cussions that sometimes took place, when by chance an old 
newspaper fell into their hands from some passing traveller. 140 
How solemnly they would listen to the contents, as drawled out 

134. Bubicnnd, reddish. 



RIP VAN WINKLE. 87 

by Derrick Van Bummel, the schoolmaster, a dapper, learned 
little man, who was not to be daunted by the most gigantic 
word in the dictionary; and how sagely they would delib- 
erate upon public events some months after they had taken 145 
place ! 

The opinions of this junto were completely controlled by 
Nicholas Vedder, a patriarch of the village, and landlord of the 
inn, at the door of which he took his seat from morning till 
night, just moving sufficiently to avoid the sun and keep in the 150 
shade of a large tree ; so that the neighbors could tell the hour 
by his movements as accurately as by a sun-dial. It is true he 
was rarely heard to speak, but smoked his pipe incessantly. 
His adherents, however, (for every great man has his adherents,) 
perfectly understood him, and knew how to gather his opinions, iw 
When anything that was read or related displeased him, he was 
observed to smoke his pipe vehemently, and to send forth short, 
frequent, and angry puffs ; but when pleased, he would inhale 
the smoke slowly and tranquilly, and emit it in light and placid 
clouds ; and sometimes, taking the pipe from his mouth, and leo 
letting the fragrant vapor curl about his nose, would gravely 
nod his head in token of perfect approbation. 

From even this stronghold the unlucky Eip was at length 
routed by his termagant wife, who would suddenly break in 
upon the tranquillity of the assemblage and call the members les 
all to naught ; nor was that august personage, Nicholas Vedder 
himself, sacred from the daring tongue of this terrible virago, 
who charged him outright with encouraging her husband in 
habits of idleness. 

Poor Eip was at last reduced almost to despair ; and his only iro 
alternative, to escape from the labor of the farm and clamor of 
his wife, was to take gun in hand and stroll away into the 

142. Dapper, smart, little and active, neat and qnick. 

147. Junto {La,t. junctiis, joined? ST^an. junta ; Ital. giunto), a cabal ; a 
faction ; a band of men secretly joined together for partisan or political pur- 
poses. 

167. Virago (Lat. virngn, a manlike or heroic maiden ; from vir, a man, 
from virere, to be green or vigorous), a female warrior. 



88 THE SKETCH-BOOK, 

woods. Here he would sometimes seat himself at the foot of 
a tree, and share the contents of his wallet with Wolf, with 
whom he sympathized as a fellow-sufferer in persecution. "Poor 175 
Wolf," he would say, " thy mistress leads thee a dog's life of it ; 
but never mind, my lad, whilst I live thou shalt never want a 
friend to stand by thee ! " Wolf would wag his tail, look wist- 
fully in his master's face, and if dogs can feel pity, I verily be- 
lieve he reciprocated tlie sentiment with all his heart. iso 

In a long ramble of the kind on a fine autumnal day, E,ip had 
unconsciously scrambled to one of the highest parts of the Kaat- 
skill Mountains. He was after his favorite sport of squirrel 
shooting, and the still solitudes had echoed and re-echoed with 
the reports of his gun. Panting and fatigued, he threw himself, iss 
late in the afternoon, on a green knoll, covered with mountain 
herbage, that crowned the brow of a precipice. From an open- 
ing between the trees he could overlook all the lower country 
for many a mile of rich woodland. He saw at a distance the 
lordly Hudson, far, far below him, moving on its silent but 190 
majestic course, with the reflection of a purple cloud, or the 
sail of a lagging bark, here and there sleeping on its glassy 
bosom, and at last losing itself in the blue highlands. 

On the other side he looked down into a deep mountain glen, 
wild, lonely, and shagged, the bottom filled with fragments iss 
from the impending cliffs, and scarcely lighted by the reflected 
rays of the setting sun. For some time Eip lay musing on this 
scene ; evening was gradually advancing ; the mountains began 
to throw their long blue shadows over the valleys; he saw 
that it would be dark long before he could reach the village, 200 
and he heaved a heavy sigh when he thought of encountering 
the terrors of Dame Van Winkle. 

As he was about to descend, he heard a voice from a distance, 
hallooing, " Eip Van Winkle ! Eip Van Winkle ! " He looked 
round, but could see nothing but a crow winging its solitary 205 
flight across the mountain. He thought his fancy must have 

196. Impending (Lat. in, upon, and pendere, to hang), overhanging, 
threatening. 



RIP VAN WINKLE. 89 

deceived him, and turned again to descend, when he heard 
the same cry ring through the still evening air : " Eip Van 
Winkle ! Rip Van Winkle ! " — at the same time Wolf bristled 
up his back, and, giving a loud growl, skulked to his master's 210 
side, looking fearfully down into the glen. Eip now felt a 
vague apprehension stealing over him ; he looked anxiously in 
the same direction, and perceived a strange figure slowly toiling 
up the rocks, and bending under the weight of something he 
carried on his back. He was surprised to see any human being 215 
in this lonely and unfrequented place, but supposing it to be 
some one of the neighborhood in need of his assistance, he 
hastened down to yield it. 

I On nearer approach he was still more surprised at the singu- 
larity of the stranger's appearance. He was a short, square-built 220 
old fellow, with thick bushy hair, and a grizzled beard. His 
dress was of the antique Dutch fashion, — a cloth jerkin strapped 
round the waist, several pairs of breeches, the outer one of 
ample volume, decorated with rows of buttons down the sides, 
and bunches at the knees. He bore on his shoulder a stout 225 
keg, that seemed full of liquor, and made signs for Rip to ap- 
proach and assist him with the load. Though rather shy and 
distrustful of this new acquaintance. Rip complied with his 
usual alacrity ; and mutually relieving each other, they clam- 
bered up a narrow guUy, apparently the dry bed of a mountain 230 
torrent. As they ascended. Rip every now and then heard 
long rolling peals, like distant thunder, that seemed to issue 
out of a deep ravine, or rather cleft, between lofty rocks, 
toward which their rugged path conducted. He paused for an 
instant, but supposing it to be the muttering of one of those 235 
transient thunder-showers which often take place in mountain 
heights, he proceeded. Passing through the ravine, they came 

221. Grizzled (Gr. graus, an old -woman ; Fr. gris, gray ; Eng. grizzled, 
having the appearance of being powdered), of mixed black and white, gray. 

222. Jerkin (Languedoc jhergaou, an overcoat ; Fr. jar got, a coarse over- 
garment in the coimtry ; Dutch jurk, a child's pinafore, a frock), a jacket, a 
short body-coat, waistcoat. 

230. Gully (Fr. goidet, neck of a bottle, gullet), a gulch or channel worn in 
the earth by running water. 



90 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

to a hollow, like a smaU amphitheatre, surrounded by perpen- 
dicular precipices, over the brinks of which impending trees 
shot their branches, so that you only caught glimpses of the 240 
azure sky and the bright evening cloud. During the whole 
time Eip and his companion had labored on in silence ; for 
though the former marvelled greatly what could be the object 
of carrying a keg of liquor up this wild mountain, yet there 
was something strange and incomprehensible about the un- 245 
known, that inspired awe and checked familiarity. 

On entering the amphitheatre, new objects of wonder pre- 
sented themselves. On a level spot in the centre was a com- 
pany of odd-looking personages playing at ninepins. They 
were dressed in a quaint outlandish fashion ; some wore short 2so 
doublets, others jerkins, with long knives in their belts, and 
most of them had enormous breeches, of similar style with 
those of the guide. Their visages, too, were peculiar : one had 
a large head, broad face, and small piggish eyes ; the face of 
another seemed to consist entirely of nose, and was surmounted 255 
by a white sugar-loaf hat, set off with a little red cock's tail. 
They all had beards, of various shapes and colors. There was 
one who seemed to be the commander. He was a stout old 
gentleman, with a weather-beaten countenance ; he wore a 
laced doublet, broad belt and hanger, high-crowned hat and jeo 
feather, red stockings, and high-heeled shoes, with roses in 
them. The whole group reminded Eip of the figures in an old 
Flemish painting, in the parlor of Dominie Van Shaick, the 
village parson, and which had been brought over from Holland 
at the time of the settlement. aes 

238. Amphitheatre (Gr. &,fx.^l, amphi, about, around, and Biarpov, theatron, 
a place for seeing, a play-house, a theatre), a buildkig of an oval or elliptical 
form for beholding games, combats, and other spectacles. 

251. Doublets (Lat. duo, two, and plico, I fold ; or duo, two, and pleo, I 
fill ; duplus, twofold, or twice filled ; Fr. doubler, to double ; double, doubled), 
originally a wadded garment [for defence ; a close-fitting coat with skirts 
reaching a little below the girdle. 

260. Hanger, a short broad sword, suspended at the side. 

261. Boses. As used here, this word means ornamental ties or knots of 
ribbon in the form of roses. 



RIP VAN WINKLE. 91 

"What seemed particularly odd to Eip was, that though these 
folks were evidently amusing themselves, yet they maintained 
the gravest faces, the most mysterious silence, and were, withal, 
the most melancholy party of pleasure he had ever witnessed. 
Nothing interrupted the stillness of the scene but the noise of 2ro 
the halls, which, whenever they were rolled, echoed along the 
mountains like rumbling peals of thunder. 

As Eip and his companion approached them, they suddenly 
desisted from their play, and stared at him with such fixed 
statue-like gaze, and such strange, uncouth, lack-lustre counte- 275 
nances, that his heart turned within him, and his knees smote 
together. His companion now emptied the contents of the 
keg into large flagons, and made signs to him to wait upon 
the company. He obeyed with fear and trembling ; they 
quaffed the liquor in profound silence, and then returned to 280 
their game. 

By degrees Eip's awe and apprehension subsided. He even 
ventured, when no eye was fixed upon him, to taste the bev- 
erage, which he found had much of the flavor of excellent 
Hollands. He was naturally a thirsty soul, and was soon 286 
tempted to repeat the draught. One taste provoked another ; 
and he reiterated his visits to the flagon so often that at length 
his senses were overpowered, his eyes swam in his head, his 
head gradually declined, and he fell into a deep sleep. 

On waking, he found himself on the green knoll whence he 290 
had first seen the old man of the glen. He rubbed his eyes, — 
it was a bright sunny morning. The birds were hopping and 
twittering among the bushes, and the eagle was wheeling aloft, 
and breasting the pure mountain breeze, " Surely," thought 
Eip, " I have not slept here all night," He recalled the oc- 295 
currences before he fell asleep. The strange man with a keg 
of liquor — the mountain ravine — the wild retreat among the 
rocks — the woe-begone party at ninepins — the flagon — " Oh ! 

285. Hollands, gin made Id Holland. 

287. Flagon (Fr. flacon, a bottle ; from rare Lat. /ascowewi), a bottle witb 
narrow mouth used for holding and conveying liquors. 



92 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

that flagon ! that wicked flagon ! " thought Rip ; " what excuse 
shall I make to Dame Van Winkle %" goo 

He looked round for his gun, but in place of the clean, well- 
oiled fowling-piece, he found an old firelock lying by him, the 
barrel incrusted with rust, the lock falling off, and the stock 
worm-eaten. He now suspected that the grave roysters of the 
mountain had put a trick upon him, and, having dosed him ans 
with liquor, had robbed him of his gun. Wolf, too, had dis- 
appeared, but he might have strayed away after a squirrel or 
partridge. He whistled after him and shouted his name, but 
all in vain ; the echoes repeated his whistle and shout, but no 
dog was to be seen. , sio 

He determined to revisit the scene of the last evening's gam- 
bol, and if he met with any of the party, to demand his dog and 
gun. As he rose to walk, he found himself stiff in the joints, 
and wanting in his usual activity. " These mountain beds do 
not agree with me," thought Rip, " and if this frolic should lay 315 
me up with a fit of the rheumatism, I shall have a blessed time 
with Dame Van Winkle." With some difficulty he got down 
into the glen : he found the gully up which he and his com- 
panion had ascended the preceding evening ; but to his aston- 
ishment a mountain stream was now foaming down it, leaping 320 
from rock to rock, and filling the glen with babbling murmurs. 
He, however, made shift to scramble up its sides, working his 
toilsome way through thickets of birch, sassafras, and witch- 
hazel, and sometimes tripped up or entangled by the wild grape- 
vines that twisted their coils or tendrils from tree to tree, and 325 
spread a kind of network in his path. 

At length he reached to where the ravine had opened through 
the cliffs to the amphitheatre ; but no traces of such opening 
remained. The rocks presented a high impenetrable wall, over 

302. Firelock, a sort of musket or gun in which the powder was fired by a 
spark from a flint and steel. 

304. Roysters (or roisters ; Gaelic riastair, become disorderly ; Piatt 
Deutsch rastern, to clatter), loud-voiced or rollicking fellows, jolly blades. 

322. Hade ahift, contrived. 



RIP VAN WINKLE. 93 

which the torrent came tumbling in a sheet of feathery foam, 330 
and fell into a broad deep basin, black from the shadows of the 
surrounding forest. Here, then, poor flip was brought to a 
stand. He again called and whistled after his dog ; he was 
only answered by the cawing of a flock of idle crows, sporting 
high in air about a dry tree that overhung a sunny precipice ; 335 
and who, secure in their elevation, seemed to look down and 
scoff at the poor man's perplexities. What was to be done? 
the morning was passing away, and Eip felt famished for want 
of his breakfast. He grieved to give up his dog and his gun ; 
he dreaded to meet his wife ; but it would not do to starve 340 
among the mountains. He shook his head, shouldered the 
rusty firelock, and, with a heart full of trouble and anxiety, 
turned his steps homeward. 

As he approached the village he met a number of people, but 
none whom he knew, which somewhat surprised him, for he had S4S 
thought himself acquainted with every one in the country round. 
Their dress, too, was of a different fashion from that to which 
he was accustomed. They all stared at him with equal marks 
of surprise, and whenever they cast their eyes upon him, in- 
variably stroked their chins. The constant recurrence of this 350 
gesture induced Rip, involuntarily, to do the same, when, to 
his astonishment, he found his beard had grown a foot long ! 

He had now entered the skirts of the village. A troop of 
strange children ran at his heels, hooting after him, and point- 
ing at his gray beard. The dogs, too, not one of which he 355 
recognized for an old acquaintance, barked at him as he passed. 
The very village was altered ; it was larger and more populous. 
There were rows of houses which he had never seen before, 
and those which had been his familiar haunts had disappeared. 
Strange names were over the doors — strange faces at the win- sco 
dows — everything was strange. His mind now misgave him ; 
he began to doubt whether both he and the world around him 
were not bewitched. Surely this was his native village, which 
he had left but the day before. There stood the Kaatskill 
Mountains ; there ran the silver Hudson at a distance ; there 365 



94 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

was every hill and dale precisely as it had always been ; Rip 
was sorely perplexed. " That flagon last night," thought he, 
** has addled my poor head sadly ! " 

It was with some difficulty that he found the way to his own 
house, which he approached with silent awe, expecting every 370 
moment to hear the shrill voice of Dame Van Winkle. He 
found the house gone to decay, the roof fallen in, the windows 
shattered, and the doors off the hinges. A half-starved dog 
that looked like Wolf was skulking about it. Rip called him 
by name, but the cur snarled, showed his teeth, and passed on. 375 
This was an unkind cut indeed. " My very dog," sighed poor 
Rip, " has forgotten me ! " 

He entered the house, which, to tell the truth, Dame Van 
Winkle had always kept in neat order. It was empty, forlorn, 
and apparently abandoned. The desolateness overcame all his aso 
connubial fears, — he called loudly for his wife and children j 
the lonely chambers rang for a. moment with his voice, and then 
all again was silence. 

He now hurried forth, and hastened to his old resort, the 
village inn ; but it, too, was gone. A large rickety wooden sss 
building stood in its place, with great gaping windows, some 
of them broken, and mended with old hats and petticoats ; and 
over the door was painted, " The Union Hotel, by Jonathan 
Doolittle." Instead of the great tree that used to shelter the 
quiet little Dutch inn of yore, there was now reared a tall naked 390 
pole, with something on the top that looked like a red night- 
cap, and from it was fluttering a flag, on which was a singular 
assemblage of stars and stripes ; all this was strange and incom- 
prehensible. He recognized on the sign, however, the ruby face 

368. Addled (A.-S., ydel, idle, barren ? Originally spoken of spoiled eggs ?), 
turned to decay, spoiled. 

390. A tall naked pole, etc., a flag-pole, or "liberty -pole," on which was 
a red cap. In ancient times, when a slave was freed, what was called the 
Phrygian cap (a bonnet rouge) was put upon the head in token of freedom ; 
"the cap with which the Roman master crowned his slave, when he took off 
the gyves." The red cap worn by French revolutionists is by them cherished 
as a symbol of liberty. 



RIP VAN WINKLE. 95 

of King George, under which he had smoked so many a peace- 395 
ful pipe ; but even this was singularly metamorphosed. The 
red coat was changed for one of blue and buff, a sword was held 
in the hand instead of a sceptre, the head was decorated with 
a cocked hat, and underneath was painted in large characters, 
General Washington. 400 

There was, as usual, a crowd of folks about the door, but 
none that Eip recollected. The very character of the people 
seemed changed. There was a busy, bustling, disputatious 
tone about it, instead of the accustomed phlegm and drowsy 
tranquillity. He looked in vain for the sage Nicholas Vedder, 405 
with his broad face, double chin, and fair long pipe, uttering 
clouds of tobacco-smoke instead of idle speeches ; or Van Bum- 
mel, the schoolmaster, doling forth the contents of an ancient 
newspaper. In place of these, a lean, bilious-looking fellow, 
with his pockets full of handbills, was haranguing vehemently 410 
about rights of citizens — elections — members of congress — 
liberty — Bunker's Hill — heroes of seventy-six — and other 
words, which were a perfect Babylonish jargon to the bewil- 
dered Van Winkle. 

The appearance of Eip, with his long grizzled beard, his rusty 415 
fowling-piece, his uncouth dress, and an army of women and 
children at his heels, soon attracted the attention of the tavern 
politicians. They crowded round him, eying him from head 
to foot with great curiosity. The orator bustled up to him, and, 
drawing him partly aside, inquired " on which side he voted." 420 
Eip stared in vacant stupidity. Another short but busy little 
fellow pulled him by the arm, and, rising on tiptoe, inquired 

397. Metamorphosed (Gr. ^lera, meta, implying change ; iJ.op(i>-fi, morphe, 
form), transformed. 

404. Phlegm (Gr. <p\iyij.a, flame, inflammation ; mucus resulting from in- 
flammation. This phlegm was regarded as one of the primary humors of the 
body, and these humors were supposed to determine the temper and disposi- 
tion of the person), dulness, sluggishness, apathy. 

413. Babylonish, pertaining to Babylon, which stood, it is supposed, on 
the spot where the tower of Babel was built ; like the language of Babel ; 
confused. 



96 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 



in his ear " whether he was Federal or Democrat." Eip was 
equally at a loss to comprehend the question; when a knowing, 
self-important old gentleman, in a sharp cocked hat, made his 425 
way through the crowd, putting them to the right and left with 
his elbows as he passed, and planting himself before Van Win- 
kle, with one arm a-kimbo, the other resting on his cane, his 
keen eyes and sharp hat penetrating, as it were, into his very 
soul, demanded in an austere tone, " What brought him to the 430 
election with a gun on his shoulder, and a mob at his heels, 
and whether he meant to breed a riot in the village 1 " — "Alas ! 
gentlemen," cried Eip, somewhat dismayed, ** I am a poor quiet 
man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the king, God 
bless him ! " ^^^ 

Here a general shout burst from the bystanders : "A tory ! 
a tory ! a spy ! a refugee ! hustle him ! away with him ! " It 
was with great difficulty that the self-important man in the 
cocked hat restored order ; and, having assumed a tenfold 
austerity of brow, demanded again of the unknown culprit, 440 
what he came there for, and whom he was seeking. The poor 
man humbly assured him that he meant no harm, but merely 
came there in search of some of his neighbors, who used to 
keep about the tavern. 

" Well — who are they 1 — name them." 44s 

Rip bethought himself a moment, and inquired, " Where 's 
Nicholas Vedder]" 

There was a silence for a little while, when an old man 
replied in a thin piping voice, " Nicholas Vedder ! why, he is 
dead and gone these eighteen years ! There was a wooden j^ 

423. Federal or Democrat. Federal was applied to the party friendly to 
the Constitution of the United States at the time of its adoption ; Anti-federal, 
or Democrat, was applied to those opposing it. These parties differed in re- 
gard to both the foreign and domestic policy of the country ; the Democrats 
were accused of partiality for France, and the Federalists, of partiality for 
Great Britain. 

428. A-kimho. Sep note on this word, p. 68. 

436. Tory, a royalist ; one who in the American Revolution upheld the 
claims of the crown, and opposed the party of freedom. 

437. Befugee, one who flees for shelter or protection. 



1 



RIP VAN WINKLE. 97 

tombstone in the churchyard that used to tell all about him, 
but that 's rotten and gone too." 

" Where 's Brom Dutcher 1 " 

"0, he went off to the army in the beginning of the war ; 
some say he was killed at the storming of Stony Point ; others 455 
say he was drowned in a squall at the foot of Antony's Nose. 
I don't know ; he never came back again." 

" Where 's Van Bummel, the schoolmaster ] " 

" He went off to the wars too, was a great militia general, 
and is now in congress." 46o 

Eip's heart died away at hearing of these sad changes in his 
home and friends, and finding himself thus alone in the world. 
Every answer puzzled him too, by treating of such enormous 
lapses of time, and of matters which he could not understand : 
war — congress — Stony Point ; — he had no courage to ask 465 
after any more friends, but cried out in despair, " Does nobody 
here know Eip Van Winkle 1 " 

" 0, Eip Van Winkle ! " exclaimed two or three. " 0, to 
be sure ! that 's Eip Van Winkle yonder, leaning against tlie 
tree." tjo 

Eip looked, and beheld a precise counterpart of himself, as 

455. Stony Point, a rocky promontory on the Hudson. During the Kevo- 
lutionary ' War a fort on it was taken by the British, June 1, 1779, and 
stormed and recaptured by General Anthony Wayne, July 15. 

456. Antony's Nose, a rocky promontory on the Hudson. "It must be 
known then that the nose of Antony the Trumpeter was of a very lusty size, 
striitting boldly from his countenance like a mountain of Golconda ; being 
sumptuously bedecked with rubies and other precious stones. Now thus it 
happened, that bright and early in the morning, the good Antony, having 
washed his burly visage, was leaning over the quarter-railing of the galley, 
contemplating it in the glassy wave below. Just at this moment the 
illustrious sun, breaking in all its splendor from behind a high bluff on the 
highlands, did dart one of his most potent beams full upon the refulgent 
nose of the sounder of brass ; the reflection of wliich shot straightway down, 
hissing-hot, into the water, and killed a mighty sturgeon. When this aston- 
ishing miracle came to be made known to Peter Stuyvesant, and that he 
tasted of the unknown fish, he, as may well be supposed, marvelled exceed- 
ingly ; and as a monument thereof, he gave the name of Antony's Nose to 
a stout promontory in the neighborhood." History of New York, Book VI. 
Chap. IV. 



98 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

lie went up the mountain : apparently as lazy, and certainly as 
ragged. The poor fellow was now completely confounded. 
He doubted his own identity, and whether he was himself or 
another man. In the midst of his bewilderment, the man 475 
in the cocked hat demanded who he was, and what was his 
name. 

" God knows ! " exclaimed he, at his wit's end ; " I 'm not 
myself — I 'm somebody else — that 's me yonder — no — that 's 
somebody else got into my shoes — I was myself last night, but 450 
I fell asleep on the mountain, and they 've changed my gun, 
and everything 's changed, and I 'm changed, and I can't tell 
what 's my name, or who I am ! " 

The bystanders began now to look at each other, nod, wink 
significantly, and tap their fingers against their foreheads, m 
There was a whisper, also, about securing the gun, and keep- 
ing the old fellow from doing mischief, at the very suggestion 
of which the self-important man in the cocked hat retired with 
some precipitation. At this critical moment a fresh comely 
woman pressed through the tbrong to get a peep at the gray- 490 
bearded man. She had a chubby child in her arms, which, 
frightened at his looks, began to cry. " Hush, Eip," cried she, 
" hush, you little fool ; the old man won't hurt you." The 
name of the child, the air of the mother, the tone of her voice, 
all awakened a train of recollections in his mind. " What is 495 
your name, my good woman 1 " asked he. 

" Judith Gardenier." 

" And your father's name 1 " 

" Ah, poor man ! Eip Van Winkle was his name, but it 's 
twenty years since he went away from home with his gun, and 500 
never has been heard of since : his dog came home without 
him ; but whether he shot himself, or was carried away by the 
Indians, nobody can tell. I was then but a little girl." 

Eip had but one question more to ask ; but he put it with a 
faltering voice : — 505 

" Where 's your mother % " 

*' Oh, she too had died but a short time since ; she broke a 
blood-vessel in a fit of passion at a New England peddler." 






RIP VAN WINKLE. 99 

There was a drop of comfort, at least, in. this intelligence. 
The honest man could contain himself no longer. He caught sio 
his daughter and her child in his arms. " I am your father ! " 
cried he — " Young Eip Van Winkle once — old Rip A^an 
Winkle now ! Does nobody know poor Eip Van Winkle 1 " 

All stood amazed, until an old woman, tottering out from 
among the crowd, put her hand to her brow, and peering under sis 
it in his face for a moment, exclaimed, " Sure enough ! it is 
Rip Van Winkle — it is himself ! Welcome home again, old 
neighbor ! Why, where have you been these twenty long 
years ? " 

Rip's story was soon told, for the whole twenty years had 520 
been to him but as one night. The neighbors stared when they 
heard it ; some were seen to wink at each other, and put their 
tongues in their cheeks : and the self-important man in the 
cocked hat, who when the alarm was over had returned to the 
field, screwed down the corners of his mouth, and shook his 525 
head ; upon which -there was a general shaking of the head 
throughout the assemblage. 

It was determined, however, to take the opinion of old Peter 
Vanderdonk, who was seen slowly advancing up the road. He 
was a descendant of the historian of that name, who wrote one 530 
of the earliest accounts of the province. Peter was the most 
ancient inhabitant of the village, and well versed in all the won- 
derful events and traditions of the neighborhood. He recollected 
Rip at once, and corroborated his story in the most satisfactory 
manner. He assured the company that it was a foct, handed 535 
down from his ancestor the historian, that the Kaatskill Moun- 
tains had always been haunted by strange beings ; that it was 
affirmed that the great Hendrick Hudson, the first discoverer of 
the river and country, kept a kind of vigil there every twenty 
years, with his crew of the Half-moon, being permitted in this 540 
way to revisit the scenes of his enterprise, and keep a guardian 
eye upon the river, and the great city called by his name ; that 

538. Hendrick Hudson. See note on p. 29. His vessel was called The 
Half-moon. 



100 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

Ms father had once seen them in their old Dutch dresses play- 
ing at ninepins in a hollow of the mountain ; and that he him- 
self had heard, one summer afternoon, the sound of their balls, ms 
like distant peals of thunder. 

To make a long story short, the company broke up, and re- 
turned to the more important concerns of the election. Eip's 
daughter took him home to live with her ; she had a snug, 
well- furnished house, and a stout cheery farmer for her husband, ^50 
whom Eip recollected for one of the urchins that nsed to climb 
upon his back. As to Eip's son and heir, who was the ditto of 
himself, seen leaning against the tree, he was employed to work 
on the farm, but evinced an hereditary disposition to attend to 
anything else but his business. 555 

Eip now resumed his old walks and habits ; he soon found 
many of his former cronies, though all rather the worse for the 
wear and tear of time, and preferred making friends among the 
rising generation, with whom he soon grew into great favor. 

Having nothing to do at home, and being arrived at that m 
happy age when a man can be idle with impunity, he took his 
place once more on the bench at the inn door, and was rever- 
enced as one of the patriarchs of the village, and a chronicle of 
the old times " before the war." It was some time before he 
could get into the regular track of gossip, or could be made ms 
to comprehend the strange events that had taken place during 
Ms torpor. How that there had been a revolutionary war, that 
the country had thrown oif the yoke of old England, and that, 
instead of being a subject of his Majesty George the Third, he 
was now a free citizen of the United States. Eip, in fact, was ^^ 
no politician ; the changes of states and empires made but little 
impression on him ; but there was one species of despotism 
under which he had long groaned, and that was — petticoat 
government. Happily that was at an end ; he had got his neck 
out of the yoke of matrimony, and could go in and out when- 575 
ever he pleased, without dreading the tyranny of Dame Van 
Winkle. Whenever her name Avas mentioned, however, he 
shook Ms head, shrugged his shoulders, and cast up his eyes ; 



RIP VAN WINKLE. 101 

■which might pass either for an expression of resignation to his 
fate, or joy at his deliverance. 

He used to tell his story to every stranger that arrived at Mr. sso 
Doolittle's liotel. He was observed, at first, to vary on some 
points every time he told it, which was, doubtless, owing to his 
having so recently awakened. It at last settled down precisely 
to the tale I have related, and not a man, Avoman, or child in 
the neighborhood, but knew it by heart. Some always pre- 585 
tended to doubt the reality of it, and insisted that Rip had been 
out of his head, and that this was one point on which he always 
remained flighty. The old Dutch inhabitants, however, almost 
universally gave it fuU credit. Even to this day they never 
hear a thunder-storm of a summer afternoon about the Kaats- 590 
kill, but they say Hendrick Hudson and his crew are at their 
game of ninepins ; and it is a common wish of all hen-pecked 
husbands in the neighborhood, when life hangs heavy on their 
hands, that they might have a quieting draught out of Eip Van 
Winkle's flagon. 595 



NOTE. 

The foregoing tale, one would suspect, had been suggested to Mr. 
Knickerbocker by a little German superstition about the Emperor 
Frederick der Rothbart, and the Kypphaiiser mountain : the sub- 
joined note, however, which lie had appended to the tale, shows 
that it is an absolute fact, narrated with his usual fidelity : — 

"The story of Rip Van Winkle may seem incredible to many, but 
nevertheless I give it my full belief, for I know the vicinity of our old 
Dutch settlements to have been very subject to marvellous events and 
ap])earances. Indeed, I have heard many stranger stories than this in 
the villages along the Hudson ; all of which were too well authenticated 
to admit of a doubt. I have even talked with Rip Van Winkle myself, 
who, when I last saw him, was a very venerable old man, and so per- 
fectly rational and consistent on every other point, that I think no con- 
scientious person could refuse to take this into the bargain ; nay, I have 
•seen a certificate on the subject, taken before a country justice, and signed 
with a cross, in the justice's own handwriting. The story, therefore, is 
beyond the possibility of doubt. D. K. " 



102 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

POSTSCRIPT. 

The following are travelling notes from a memorandum-book of 
Mr. Knickerbocker : — 

The Kaatsberg, or Catskill Mountains, have always been a region full 
of fable. The Indians considered them the abode of spirits, who influ- 
enced the weather, spreading sunshine or clouds over the landscape, and 
sending good or bad hunting seasons. They were ruled by an old squaw 
spirit, said to be their mother. She dwelt on the highest peak of the 
Catskills, and had charge of the doors of day and night, to open and shut 
them at the proper hour. She hung up the new moons in the skies, and 
cut up the old ones into stars. In times of drought, if properly 2:)ropiti- 
ated, she would spin light summer clouds out of cobwebs and morning 
dew, and send them off" from the crest of the mountain, flake after flake, 
like flakes of carded cotton, to float in the air ; until, dissolved by the 
heat of the sun, they would fall in gentle showers, causing the grass to 
spring, the fruits to ripen, and the corn to grow an inch an hour. If 
displeased, however, she would brew up clouds black as ink, sitting in 
the midst of them like a bottle-bellied spider in the midst of its web ; 
and when these clouds broke, woe betide the valleys ! 

In old times, say the Indian traditions, there was a kind of Manitou 
or Spirit, who kept about the wildest recesses of the Catskill Mountains, 
and took a mischievous pleasure in WTeaking all kinds of evils and vexa- 
tions upon the red men. Sometimes he would assume the form of a bear, 
a panther, or a deer, lead the bewildered hunter a weary chase through 
tangled forests and among ragged rocks, and then spring off" with a loud 
ho ! ho ! leaving him aghast on the brink of a beetling precipice or 
raging torrent. 

The favorite abode of this Manitou is still shown. It is a great rock 
or cliff" on the loneliest part of the mountains, and, from the flowering 
vines which clamber about it, and the wild flowers which abound in its 
neighborhood, is known by the name of the Garden Eock. Near the foot 
of it is a small lake, the haunt of the solitary bittern, with water-snakes 
basking in the sun on the leaves of the pond-lilies, which lie on the 
surface. This place was held in great awe by the Indians, insomuch 
that the boldest hunter would not pursue his game within its precincts. 
Once upon a time, however, a hunter who had lost his way penetrated 
to the garden rock, where he beheld a number of gourds placed in the 
crotches of trees. One of these he seized, and made off with it ; but in 
the hurry of his retreat he let it fall among the rocks, when a great 
stream gushed forth, which washed him away and swept him down 
precipices, where he was dashed to pieces, and the stream made its way 
to the Hudson, and continues to flow to the present day ; being the iden- 
tical stream known by the name of the Kaaters-kill. 



RIP VAN WINKLE. 103 



SUGGESTIONS OF TOPICS OF INQUIRY. 

What is the general character of this sketch ? 

What is a barometer? How is the word applied in the first paragraph ? 

Explain the sentence, "The blue tints of the upland melt away into the 
fresh green of the nearer landscape." Find a similar passage in the first 
paragraph of The Widow and her Son. Compare the two descriptions. 

What is the force of the word profitable in the expression "an insuperable 
aversion to all kinds oi profitable labor " ? Is labor usually profitable ? Was 
Rip's labor profitable ? Why ? or why not? 

What was the condition of Rip's farm ? 

Why is it called his patrimonial estate ? 

What is meant by a "torrent of household eloquence" ? 

"A tart temper never mellows ■with age, and a sharp tongue is the only 
edged tool that grows keener with constant use. " To whom does this apply ? 
What is the force of the word melloxus ? 

How did Rip escape from labor and his wife's tongue ? 

Describe the dog, Wolf. 

Describe the stranger whom Rip met on the mountain. 

Who composed "the most melancholy party of pleasure he had ever wit- 
nessed " ? What contradiction does there seem to be in this expression ? 
What is a paradox ? 

What effect did the liquor have on Rip ? Narrate the story till he reaches 
the village. 

What changes does he perceive in the village ? 

What is going on in the village ? 

What is the result of his inquiries for his old companions ? 

What causes the greatest confusion in Rip's mind ? 

How many in the company are named Rip ? 

What comforting news does Judith, his daughter, teU him if 

How is the whole mystery cleared away ? 

Who corroborates the story? Why is he authority ? 

How did Rip pass the rest of his life? 

Select two or three humorous sentences or expressions, and state why they 
are at all funny. 

Commit to memory the first paragraph of this sketch. 

Turn the last paragraph into sentences, each of which shall be exactly 
equivalent in meaning to the corresponding original sentence. 



104 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 



CHRISTMAS EVE. 



"Saint Francis and Saint Benedight 
Blesse this house from wicked wight ; 
From the nightmare and the goblin, 
That is hight good fellow Robin ; 
Keep it from all evil spirits. 
Fairies, weezels, rats, and feiTets : 
From curfew time 
To the next prime." 

Caktwright. 



It was a brilliant moonlight night, hut extremely cold ; our 
chaise whirled rapidly over the frozen ground ; the postboy 
smacked his whip incessantly, and a part of the time his horses 
were on a gallop. "He knows where he is going," said my 
companion, laughing, " and is eager to arrive in time for some 
of the merriment and good cheer of the servants' hall. My 



Saint Francis (1182-1226), founder of the order of Franciscan Friars. 
Saint Benedight (about 480- 543), founder of the order of Benedictine Monks. 

Hight, called. Good fellow Robin, Robin Good-fellow, Puck, a celebrated 
fairy, the "merry wanderer of the night," who figures largely in Shake- 
speare's Midsummer Night's Dream, and in many stories of which the scene 
is laiil in England, Germany, and Northern Europe. 

Curfew (Fr. couvrir, to cover;/eM, fire). The curfew (cover-fire) was the 
ringing of a bell at eight o'clock at night as a signal to the inhabitants 1)d put 
out fires and retire to rest. This custom, which was established in the reign 
of William the Conqueror (who reigned 1066-1087), is still retained in some 
of the country districts in England. 

Cartwright. See note, p. 82. 

2. Postboy (Lat. 2^osta, posita, placed, a station where relays of hoi'ses are 
kept for carrying the mails, etc.), a boy that drives a post-chaise ; that is, a 
carriage for conveying travellers or letters from one station to another. 



CHRISTMAS EVE. 105 

father, you must know, is a bigoted devotee of the old school, 
and prides himself upon keeping up something of old English 
hospitality. He is a tolerable specimen of what you will rarely 
meet with nowadays in its purity, — the old English country lo 
gentleman ; for our men of fortune spend so much of their time 
in town, and fashion is carried so much into the country, that 
the strong rich peculiarities of ancient rural life are almost pol- 
ished away. My father, however, from early years, took honest 
Peacham for his text-book, instead of Chesterfield : he deter- 15 
mined in his own mind, that there was no condition more truly 
honorable and enviable than that of a country gentleman on his 
paternal lands, and therefore passes the whole of his time on his 
estate. He is a strenuous advocate for the revival of the old 
rural games and holiday observances, and is deeply read in the 20 
writers, ancient and modern, who have treated on the subject. 
Indeed, his favorite range of reading is among the authors who 
flourished at least two centuries since ; who, he insists, wrote 
and thought more like true Englishmen than any of their suc- 
cessors. He even regrets sometimes that he had not been born 25 
a few centuries earlier, when England was itself, and had its 
peculiar manners and customs. As he lives at some distance 
from the main road, in rather a lonely part of the country, 
without any rival gentry near him, he has that most enviable of 
aU blessings to an Englishman, an opportunity of indulging the 30 
bent of his own humor without molestation. Being representa- 
tive of the oldest family in the neighborhood, and a great part 
of the peasantry being his tenants, he is much looked up to, and, 
in general, is known simply by the appellation of * the Squire,' 



7. Bigoted, unreasonably attached to a particular opinion and blind to all 
argument to the contrary. Devotee (Lat. devovere, devotare, to dedicate to 
the deity), one who is wholly devoted to certain duties, studies, and cere- 
monies. Old school, a school or party belonging to a former time ; a sect, 
or body of followers, having the character and opinions of old time. 

15. Peacham, Henry Peacham of Trinity College, Cambridge, author of 
The Complete Gentleman, 1622. Chesterfield. Lord Chesterfield (1694- 
1773), as a literary man, is best known by his Letters to his Son, which treat 
of manners and politeness. 



106 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

a title which has "been accorded to the head of the family since 35 
time immemorial. I think it best to give you these hints about 
my worthy old father, to prepare you for any eccentricities that 
might otherwise appear absurd." 

We had passed for some time along the wall of a park, and 
at length the chaise stopped at the gate. It was in a heavy, 40 
magnificent old style, of iron bars, fancifully wrought at top into 
flourishes and flowers. The huge square columns that supported 
the gate were surmounted by the family crest. Close adjoining 
was the porter's lodge, sheltered under dark fir-trees, and almost 
buried in shrubbery. 45 

The postboy rang a large porter's bell, which resounded 
through the still frosty air, and was answered by the distant 
barking of dogs, with which the mansion-house seemed garri- 
soned. An old woman immediately appeared at the gate. As 
the moonlight fell strongly upon her, I had a full view of a little 50 
primitive dame, dressed very much in the antique taste, with a 
neat kerchief and stomacher, and her silver hair peeping from 
under a cap of snowy whiteness. She came courtesying forth, 
with many expressions of simple joy at seeing her young master. 
Her husband, it seemed, was up at the house keeping Christmas 55 
eve in the servants' hall ; they could not do without him, as he 
was the best hand at a song and story in the household. 

My friend proposed that we should alight and walk through 
the park to the hall, Avhich was at no great distance, while the 
chaise should follow on. Our road wound through a noble eo 
avenue of trees, among the naked branches of which the moon 
glittered as she roUed through the deep vault of a cloudless sky. 
The lawn beyond was sheeted with a slight covering of snow, 
which here and there sparkled as the moonbeams caught a frosty 
crystal ; and at a distance might be seen a thin transparent es 



36. Time immemorial, time whose beginning is not remembered, or can- 
not be ascertained ; time beyond memory. 

52. Kerchief (Fr. couvrecliief, covering for the head, from couvrir, to cover, 
and c/te/, or chiefs the head), a cover for the head, head-dress. Stomaclier. 
See note, p. 39. 



CHRISTMAS EVE. 107 

vapor, stealing up from the low grounds and threatening grad- 
ually to shroud the landscape. 

My companion looked around him with transport. " How 
often," said he, " have I scampered up this avenue, on returning 
heme on school vacations ! How often have I played under 70 
these trees when a boy ! I feel a degree of filial reverence for 
them, as we look up to those who have cherished us in child- 
hood. My father was always scrupulous in exacting our holi- 
days, and having us around him on family festivals. He used 
to direct and superintend our games with the strictness that 75 
some parents do the studies of their children. He was very par- 
ticular that we should play the old English games according to 
their original form, and consulted old books for precedent and 
authority for every ' merrie disport ' ; yet I assure you there 
never was pedantry so delightful. It was the policy of the good so 
old gentleman to make his children feel that home was the hap- 
piest place in the world ; and I value this delicious home-feeling 
as one of the choicest gifts a parent could bestow." 

We were interrupted by the clamor of a troop of dogs of all 
sorts and sizes, " mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound, and curs of 85 
low degree," that, disturbed by the ring of the porter's bell and 
the rattling of the chaise, came bounding, open-mouthed, across 
the lawn. 

" ' The little dogs and all, 
Tray, Blanch, and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me ! '" » 

cried Bracebridge, laughing. At the sound of his voice, the 
bark was changed into a yelp of delight, and in a moment he 

78. PrecSdent (Fr. preceder, to go before ; Lat. prm, before, and ced&e, 
to give ground, go), a preceding case which serves as a rule or authority for 
the disposal of subsequent cases of a similar kind. As an adjective, the word 
is pronounced precedent, and means going before. How accented ? 

80. Pedantry (Gr. iraiSayuy6s, pcwdagogus, a leader or teacher of children ; 
Ital. pedante, a schoolmaster ; Fr. pidanterie), a boastful display of learning, 
an ostentatious and unsuitable parade of knowledge. 

85. Mongrel, puppy, etc. From Goldsmith's IJlegy on the Death of a 
Mad Dog, in the Vicar of Wakefield, published in 1766. 

89. The little dogs, etc. Shakespeare's- King Lear, III. 6, 1. 66, 67. , 



108 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

was surrounded and almost overpowered by the caresses of the 
faithful animals. 

"We had now come in full view of the old family mansion, 95 
partly thrown in deep shadow, and partly lit up by the cold 
moonshine. It was an irregular building, of some magnitude, 
and seemed to be of the architecture of different periods. One 
wing was evidently very ancient, with heavy stone-shafted bow- 
windows jutting out and overrun with ivy, from among the foli- 100 
age of which the small diamond-shaped panes of glass glittered 
with the moonbeams. The rest of the house was in the French 
taste of Charles the Second's time, having been repaired and 
altered, as my friend told me, by one of his ancestors, who 
returned with that monarch at the Restoration. The grounds 10s 
about the house ware laid out in the old formal manner of artifi- 
cial flower-beds, clipped shrubberies, raised terraces, and heavy 
stone balustrades, ornamented with urns, a leaden statue or two, 
and a jet of water. The old gentleman, I was told, was extremely 
careful to preserve this obsolete finery in all its original state. 110 
He admired this fashion in gardening ; it had an air of magnifi- 
cence, was courtly and noble, and befitting good old family style. 
The boasted imitation of nature in modern gardening had sprung 
up with modern republican notions, but did not suit a monarchi- 
cal government ; it smacked of the levelling system. I could us 
not help smiling at this introduction of politics into gardening, 
though I expressed some apprehension that I should find the old 
gentleman rather intolerant in his creed. Frank assured me, how- 
ever, that it was almost the only instance in which he had ever 
heard his father meddle with pohtics ; and he believed that he 120 

99. Wing, an adjoinino: side building, less than the main edifice. 
103. Charles II. reigned from 1660 to 1685. 

105. Restoration, the return of Charles II. in 1660, and the re-establish- 
ment of the monarchy in England. 

107. Clipped shrubberies, garden-trees and plants trimmed to a uniform 
height, and to a fixed shape. 

108. Balustrades (Fr. balustres, little round short pillars in rows on the 
outside of terraces, galleries, etc. ), ranges of small columns, topped by a rail, 
on parapets, on_the margin of stairs, before ■windows, or to enclose balconies, 
etc. 



CHRISTMAS EVE, 109 

had got this notion from a member of parliament who once 
passed a few weeks with him. The squire was glad of any 
argument to defend his clipped yew-trees and formal terraces, 
which had been occasionally attacked by modern landscape 
gardeners. 125 

As we approached the house, we heard the sound of music, 
and now and then a burst of laughter, from one end of the 
building. This, Bracebridge said, must proceed from the ser- 
vants' hall, where a great deal of revelry was permitted, and 
even encouraged, by the squire, throughout the twelve days of iso 
Christmas, provided everything was done comformably to an- 
cient usage. Here were kept up the old games of hoodman 
blind, shoe the wild mare, hot cockles, steal the white loaf, 
bob-apple, and snap - dragon ; the Yule clog and Christmas 
candle were regularly burnt, and the mistletoe, with its white iss 
berries, hung up, to the imminent peril of all the pretty house- 
maids.* 

So intent were the servants upon their sports, that we had 
to ring repeatedly before we could make ourselves heard. On 
our arrival being announced, the squire came out to receive us, wo 
accompanied by his two other sons : one a young officer in the 

124. Landscape gardeners, men who lay out grounds so as to produce the 
effect of natural landscape. 

130. Twelve days of Christmas, from December 25th to January 6Lh, 
which last is called Twelfth-day, or Epiphany. 

132. Hoodman hlind ; same as blind-man's-buff. 

133. Hot cockles, a game in which one covers his eyes and guesses who 
strikes him. 

134. Snap-dragon, a Christmas sport in which raisins and sweetmeats are 
snatched from a bowl of blazing brandy. Yule (Icel. j6l, feast ; Welsh gioyll), 
the name of the Christmas festival among the Gothic races. See note, p. 111. 

135. Mistletoe, a parasitic plant, found growing on many trees. The mis- 
tletoe of the oak was an object of superstitious veneration among the Druids, 
and was used in their religious rites. 



* Tlie mistletoe is still hung up in farmhouses and kitchens at Christmas, 
and the young men have the privilege of kissing the girls under it, plucking 
each time a berry from the bush. When the berries are all plucked, the 
privilege ceases. 



110 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

army, home on leave of absence ; the other an Oxonian, just 
from the university. The squire was a fine healthy-looking old 
gentleman, with silver hair curling lightly round an open florid 
countenance ; in which the physiognomist, with the advantage, U5 
like myself, of a previous hint or two, might discover a singular 
mixture of whim and benevolence. 

The family meeting was warm and affectionate ; as the even- 
ing was far advanced, the squire would not permit us to change 
our travelling dresses, but ushered us at once to the company, 150 
which was assembled in a large old-fashioned hall. It was 
composed of different branches of a numerous family connec- 
tion, where there were the usual proportion of old uncles and 
aunts, comfortable married dames, superannuated spinsters, 
blooming country cousins, half-fledged striplings, and bright- 155 
eyed boarding-school hoydens. They were variously occupied ; 
some at a round game of cards ; others conversing around the 
fireplace ; at one end of the hall was a group of the young 
folks, some nearly grown up, others of a more tender and bud- 
ding age, fully engrossed by a merry game ; and a profusion of leo 
wooden horses, penny trumpets, and tattered dolls, about the 
floor, shoAved traces of a troop of little fairy beings, Avho, having 
frolicked through a happy day, had been carried off to slumber 
through a peaceful night. 

While the mutual greetings were going on between young jgs 
Bracebridge and his relatives, I had time to scan the apartment. 
I have called it a hall, for so it had certainly been in old times, 
and the squire had evidently endeavored to restore it to some- 

142. Oxonian, a student or graduate of the University of Oxford, England. 

145. Physiognomist (Gr. (pvo-ioyvdi/j.cai', physiognomon, judging of nature, 
from (pvsLS, phi/sis, natiire, and yvihfxwv, gnomon, one who knows), one who is 
able to judge of the temper and character by outward appearance, especially 
by the featiires of the face or physiognomy (i. e. features, outward look). 

154. Superannuated (Lat. super, over ; annus, year), impaired or disquali- 
fied by old age. Spinster, an unmarried woman of middle age or older. 
The tei-mination -ster is feminine. The word spinster points to a time when 
almost every household had its spinning-wheel. 

156. Hoydens (or hoidens ; Kilian and Wedgwood make it another form 
of heathen, Dutch heyden, a rude boorish rustic), wild, romping girls. 



CHRISTMAS EVE. Ill 

thing of its primitive state. Over the heavy projecting fire- 
place was suspended a picture of a Avarrior in armor, standing i7o 
by a white horse, and on the opposite wall hung a helmet, 
buckler, and lance. At one end an enormous pair of antlers 
were inserted in the wall, the branches serving as hooks on 
which to suspend hats, whips, and spurs : and in tlie corners 
of the apartment were fowling-pieces, fishing-rods, and other irs 
sporting implements. The furniture was of the cumbrous 
workmanship of former days, though some articles of modern 
convenience had been added, and the oaken floor had been 
carpeted ; so that the whole presented an odd mixture of 
parlor and hall. iso 

The grate had been removed from the wide overwhelming 
fireplace, to make way for a fire of wood, in the midst of which 
was an enormous log glowing and blazing, and sending forth a 
vast volume of light and heat. This I understood was the 
Yule clog, which the squire Avas particular in having brought in iss 
and illumined on a Christmas eve, according to ancient custom.* 

172. Antlers (Fr. andouiUers, the branches of a stag's liorns, perhaps from 
Lat. ante, before, in front), a stag's projecting horns. 

* The Yule clog is a great log of wood, sometimes the root of a tree, 
brought into the house with great ceremony on Christmas eve, laid in the 
fireplace, and lighted with the brand of last year'.s clog. While it lasted, 
there was great drinking, singing, and telling of tales. Sometimes it was 
accompanied by Christmas candles ; but in the cottages the only light was 
from the ruddy blaze of the great wood-fire. The Yule clog was to burn all 
night ; if it went out, it was considered a sign of ill luck. 
HeiTick mentions it in one of his songs : — 

" Come, bring with a noise, 
My merrie, merrie boyes, 
The Christmas log to the firing ; 
While my good dame, she 
Bids ye all be free, 
And drink to your hearts' desiring." 
Tlie Yule clog is still burnt in many farmhouses and kitchens in England, 
particularly in the North, and there are several superstitions connected with 
it among the peasantry. If a squinting person come to the house while it 
is burning, or a person barefooted, it is considered an ill omen. The brand 
remaining from the Yule clog is carefully put away to light the next year's 
Christmas fire. 



112 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

It was really delightful to see the old squire seated in his 
hereditary elbow-chair, by the hospitable fireplace of his ances- 
tors, and looking around him like the sun of a system, beaming 
warmth and gladness to every heart. Even the very dog that loo 
lay stretched at his feet, as he lazily shifted his position and 
yawned, would look fondly up in his master's face, wag his tail 
against the floor, and stretch himself again to sleep, confident 
of kindness and protection. There is an emanation from the 
heart in genuine hospitality which cannot be described, but is 195 
immediately felt, and puts the stranger at once at his ease. I 
had not been seated many minutes by the comfortable hearth 
of the worthy old cavalier, before I found myself as much at 
home as if I had been one of the family. 

Supper was announced shortly after our arrival. It was 200 
served up in a spacious oaken chamber, the panels of which 
shone with wax, and around which were several family portraits 
decorated with holly and ivy. Besides the accustomed lights, 
two great wax tapers, called Christmas candles, wreathed with 
greens, were placed on a highly polished buff'et among the 205 
family plate. The table was abundantly spread with substan- 
tial fare ; but the squire made his supper of frumenty, a dish 
made of wheat cakes boiled in milk, with rich spices, being a 
standing dish in old times for Christmas eve. I was happy to 
find my old friend, minced pie, in the retinue of the feast ; and 210 



188. Hereditary (Lat. hoeres, an heir), inherited, descended or transmitted 
from an ancestor or parent. 

194. Emanation (Lat. ex or e, out, and manare, to flow), that which pro- 
ceeds or issues forth. 

198. Cavalier. See note on Knight-errant, p. 43. 

201. Panels, spaces in walls, ceilings, doors, etc., enclosed by mouldings 
or raised framework, and filled in with thinned parts. 

203. Holly, an ornamental shrub, five to ten feet high, with ric^, glossy, 
evergreen foliage, and beautiful coral-like berries. 

205. Buffet (Fr. buffet), a cupboard or set of shelves for wine, glass, china, 
etc. It was formerly erected on one side of a room ; but a sideboard is now 
substituted for it. 

207. Frumenty {Yr. frument&e , a kind of wheat gruel ; from Lat. frumen- 
tum, wheat), food made of wheat boiled in milk, and sweetened and spiced. 



CHRISTMAS EVE. 113 

finding him to bo perfectly orthodox, and that I need not be 
ashamed of my predilection, I greeted him with all the warmth 
wherewith we usually greet an old and very genteel acquaintance. 
The mirth of the company was greatly promoted by the 
humors of an eccentric personage whom Mr. Bracebridge always 215 
addressed with the quaint appellation of Master Simon. He 
was a tight, brisk little man, with the air of an arrant old bach- 
elor. His nose was shaped like the bill of a parrot ; his face 
slightly pitted with the small-pox, with a dry perpetual bloom 
on it, like a frost-bitten leaf iu autumn. He had an eye of 220 
great quickness and vivacity, with a drollery and lurking wag- 
gery of expression that was irresistible. He was evidently the 
wit of the family, dealing very much in sly jokes and innuen- 
does with the ladies, and making infinite merriment by harp- 
ings upon old themes ; which, unfortunately, my ignorance of 225 
the family chronicles did not permit me to enjoy. It seemed 
to be his great delight during supper to keep a young girl next 
him in a continual agony of stifled laughter, in spite of her awe 
of the reproving looks of her mother, who sat opposite. In- 
deed, he was the idol of the younger part of the company, who 230 
laughed at everything he said or did, and at every turn of his 
countenance. I could not wonder at it, for he must have been 
a miracle of accomplishments in their eyes. He could imitate 
Punch and Judy ; make an old woman of his hand, with the 
assistance of a burnt cork and pocket-handkerchief; and cut 235 
an orange into such a ludicrous caricature, that the young folks 
were ready to die with laughing. 

211. Orthodox (Gr. op^os, orthos^ right, straiglit; and 5dka, doxa, opinion, 
doctrine), sound in opinion or doctrine ; made in the right way according to 
the author's taste. 

212. Predilection {'La.i. jirrce, before, and dilectio, choice), a preference or 
liking beforehand ; partiality. 

217. Arrant (akin to arch, sly, roguish), pre-eminent in badness. 

223. Innuendo (Lat. in, unto, and nuSre, to nod), an indirect allusion ; a 
remote intimation, hint, or reference to a person or thing not named. 

234. Punch and Judy, a famous pu])pet-show. In it the characters, the 
principal of which are Punch, his wife Judy, and his dog Toby, are made to 
act upon a platform, behind which the concealed performer moves the figures, 
and by the aid of ventriloquiam makes them appear to talk. 



114 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

I was let briefly into his history by Frank Bracebridge. He 
•was an old bachelor, of a small independent income, which, 
by careful management, was sufficient for all his wants. He 240 
revolved through the family system like a vagrant comet in its 
orbit ; sometimes visiting one branch, and sometimes another 
quite remote, — as is often the case with gentlemen of exten- 
sive connections and small fortunes in England. He had a 
chirping buoyant disposition, always enjoying the present mo- 2« 
ment ; and his frequent change of scene and company prevented 
his acquiring those rusty unaccommodating habits with which 
old bachelors are so uncharitably charged. He was a complete 
family chronicle, being versed in the genealogy, history, and 
intermarriages of th6 whole house of Bracebridge, which made 250 
him a great favorite with the old folks ; he was the beau of all 
the elder ladies and superannuated spinsters, among whom he 
was habitually considered rather a young fellow, and he was 
master of the revels among the children ; so that there was not 
a more popular being in the sphere in which he moved than 255 
Mr. Simon Bracebridge. Of late years he had resided almost 
entirely with the squire, to whom he had become a factotum, 
and whom he particularly delighted by jumping with his 
humor in respect to old times, and by having a scrap of an old 
song to suit every occasion. We had presently a specimen of 29) 
his last-mentioned talent, for no sooner was supper removed, 
and spiced wines and other beverages peculiar to the season 
introduced, than Master Simon was called on for a good old 
Christmas song. He bethought himself for a moment, and 
then, with a sparkle of the eye, and a voice that was by no 265 
means bad, excepting that it ran occasionally into a falsetto, 
like the notes of a split reed, he quav(Jred forth a quaint old 
ditty. 

257. Factotum (Lat. facere, to do, and totus, all), a person employed to do 
all kinds of work, colloquially termed "a Jack at all trades." 

266. Falsetto (Ital. falsetto, false treble ; Lat. falsa, false), that part of 
one's voice which lies above its natural compass. 

267. Quavered, uttered tremul ously. Beed, a thin tongue of wood or metal 
wliose vibration causes the sound of certain wind instruments. 



CHRISTMAS EVE. 115 

" Now Christmas is come, 

Let us beat up the drum, 270 

And call all our neighbors together. 

And when they appear, 

Let us make them such cheer 
As will keep out the wind and the weather," etc. 
The supper had disposed every one to gayety, and an old 2-s 
harper was summoned from the servants' hall, where he had 
been strumming all the evening, and to all appearance com- 
forting himself with some of the squire's home-brewed. He 
was a kind of hanger-on, I was told, of the establishment, and, 
though ostensibly a resident of the village, was oftener to be 230 
found in the squire's kitchen than his own tome, the old gen- 
tleman being fond of the sound of " harp in hall," 

The dance, like most dances after supper, was a merry one ; 
some of the older folks joined in it, and the squire himself 
figured down several couple with a partner, with whom he 285 
affirmed he had danced at every Christmas for nearly half a 
century. Master Simon, who seemed to be a kind of connecting 
link between the old times and the new, and to be withal a 
little antiquated in the taste of his accomplishments, evidently 
piqued himself on his dancing, and was' endeavoring to gain 290 
credit by the heel and toe, rigadoon, and other graces of the 
ancient school ; but he had unluckily assorted himself with a 
little romping girl from boarding-school, who, by her wild 
vivacity, kept him continually on the stretch, and defeated all 
his sober attempts at elegance : — such are the ill-assorted 295 
matches to which antique gentlemen are unfortunately prone I 
The young Oxonian, on the contrary, had led out one of his 
maiden aunts, on whom the rogue played a thousand little 
knaveries with impunity; he was full of practical jokes, and his 
delight was to tease his aunts and cousins ; yet, like all madcap 300 
youngsters, he was a universal favorite among the women. The 

277. Strumming, playing carelessly, and so poorly, on a stringed instru- 
ment. 

290. Piqued himself, prided liimself. 

291. Eigadoon (Fr. rigaudon, from ric-din-don, the refrain of a drinking- 
song), a gay, brisk dance, like a jig or reel, performed by one couple. 



116 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

most interesting couple in the dance was the young officer and 
a ward of the squire's, a beautiful blushing girl of seventeen. 
From several shy glances which I had noticed in the course of 
the evening, I suspected there was a little kindness growing up sos 
between them; and, indeed, the young soldier was just the 
hero to captivate a romantic girl. He was tall, slender, and 
handsome, and, like most young British officers of late years, 
had picked up various small accomplishments on the continent : 
he could talk French and Italian, draw landscapes, sing very 310 
tolerably, dance divinely, but above aU, he had been wounded 
at Waterloo. What girl of seventeen, well read in poetry and 
romance, could resist such a mirror of chivalry and perfection ? 
The moment the dance was over he caught up a guitar, and, 
lolling against the old marble fireplace, in an attitude which I 315 
am half inclined to suspect was studied, began the little French 
air of the Troubadour, The squire, however, exclaimed against 
having anything on Christmas eve but good old English ; upon 
which the young minstrel, casting up his eye for a moment, as 
if in an effort of memory, struck into another strain, and, with a 320 
charming air of gallantry, gave Herrick's " Night-Piece to Julia." 

" Her eyes the glow-worm lend thee, 
The shooting stars attend thee, 

And the elves also. 

Whose little eyes glow 525 

Like the sparks of fire, befriend thee. 

" No will-o'-the-wisp mislight thee ; 
Nor snake nor slow- worm bite thee ; 
But on, on thy way, 

Not making a stay, jgp 

Since ghost there is none to affright thee. 

" Then let not the dark thee cumber ; 
What though the moon does slumber, 

312. Waterloo, a village of Belgium, ten miles from Brussels. In the great 
battle fought here, June 18, 1815, the French under Napoleon Bonaparte 
were entirely defeated by the Allies under Wellington and Blucher. 

321. Herrick (Robert Herrick, 1591 - 1674), an English poet and divine, 
whose songs possess great sweetness. 



CHRISTMAS EVE. 117 

The stars of the night 

Will lend thee their light, ass 

Like tapers clear without number. 

" Then, Julia, let me woo thee, 

Thus, thus to come unto me ; 

And when I shall meet 

Thy silvery feet, ^ 

My soul I '11 pour into thee." 

The song miglit or might not have been intended in compli- 
ment to the fair Julia, for so I found his partner was called ; 
she, however, was certainly unconscious of any such application, 
for she never looked at the singer, but kept her eyes cast upon 345 
the floor. Her face was suffused, it is true, with a beautiful 
blush, and there was a gentle heaving of the bosom, but all that 
was doubtless caused by the exercise of the dance ; indeed so 
great was her indifference, that she amused herself with picking 
to pieces a choice bouquet of hot-house flowers, and by the time 350 
the song was concluded the nosegay lay in ruins on the floor. 

The party now broke up for the night with the kind-hearted 
old custom of shaking hands. As I passed through the hall, 
on my way to my chamber, the dying embers of the Yule clog 
still sent forth a dusky glow, and had it not been the season 355 
when " no spirit dares stir abroad," I should have been half 
tempted to steal from my room at midnight, and peep whether 
the fairies might not be at their revels about the hearth. 

My chamber was in the old part of the mansion, the pon- 
derous furniture of Avhich might have been fabricated in the goo 

356. Ko spirit dares, etc. 

" Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes, 
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, 
This bird of dawning singeth all night long ; 
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad ; 
The nights are wholesome ; then no planets strike, 
No fairy takes, no witch hath power to charm ; 
So hallowed and so gracious is the time." 

Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act I. Sc. 1. 

359. Ponderous (Lat. pondus, weight, heaviness), very heavy, weighty, 

360. Fabricated (Lat. faber, artificer ; fabricare, to frame, build), framed, 
constructed, built, manufactured. 



118 THE SKETCH-BOOK. 

days of the giants. The room was panelled, with cornices of 
heavy carved work, in which flowers and grotesque faces were 
strangely intermingled ; and a row of black-looking portraits 
stared mournfully at me from the walls. The bed was of rich 
though faded damask, with a lofty tester, and stood in a niche sco 
opposite a bow-window, I had scarcely got into bed when a 
strain of music seemed to break forth in the air just below the 
window. I listened, and found it proceeded from a band, 
which I concluded to be the waits from some neighboring 
village. They went round the house, playing under the sro 
windows. I drew aside the curtains to hear them more dis- 
tinctly. The moonbeams fell through the upper part of the 
casement, partially lighting up the antiquated apartment. The 
sounds, as they receded, became more soft and aerial, and 
seemed to accord with the quiet and moonlight. I listened 375 
and listened : they became more and more tender and remote, 
and, as they gradually died away, my head sank upon the 
pillow, and I fell asleep. 

365. Damask (named from Damascus). Tester (Old Fr. teste, the head), 
the top covering or canopy of a bed, consisting of some kind of cloth supported 
by the bedstead. 

373. Casement, a window-case, or window-frame ; a glazed frame or sash 
opening on liinges. 

37-i. Aerial (Lat. aer, air), belonging to the air ; produced up in the air ; 
seemingly above the earth. 



SUGGESTIONS OF TOPICS OF INQUIRY. 

What kind of sketch is this ? What seerns to be its purpose or design ? 
Name the persons described in it. 
State their relation to each other. 

Reproduce Frank Bracebridge's description of his father. 
What time of year does the sketch describe ? 
What is the "Yiileclog"? 

Who is the most entertaining jserson in the company ? 
Make a pen portrait of him. 
Why does he particularly please the sqiiire ? 
Give some account of the dancing. 
When is Christmas eve ? 

Select what you think to be the finest paragraph in it, and turn each sen- 
tence into an exact English equivalent. 



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